I Have Returned
by EPiiCx5587
Summary: Twilight returns to Equestria after six years of fighting the Covenant ,but she isn't alone, and she doesn't have friendly intentions. This is a re release of a story of mine from fimfiction.
1. Chapter 1

I Have Returned

Chapter 1: Tournament day

The light glow of the moon basked over the small city of Canterlot, it was a cloudless night as per usual, but that's the way the goddess of the night, Princess Luna, liked it. She was sitting alone on her private balcony so she could raise the moon. Yet she didn't know how she raised the moon itself. Celestia always told her that she did it subconsciously, and that things such as the balcony and the summer sun festival were just for were just for show. That didn't stop her from wondering though, how does she do it, and why her? Celestia also told her that she created the moon, but she never had any memory of it, or any memories from when she was young. She talked to her sister about it the other day but she was just told that it's just part of her recovery from her time as nightmare moon.

But that's not all that she was thinking about. Tonight was a special night, and not in a good way. It was that night six years ago that she lost a dear friend of hers, Twilight Sparkle.

A year before that Princess Twilight Sparkle Had her crown stolen from her. The culprit escaped through a magic mirror that takes ponies to another dimension. Twilight was quick to go after the robber and returned unharmed with her crown, but while she may have returned, Twilights curiosity of other worlds always drew her back. She always wondered what was on the other side but she never dared going into another world. But one day, one very fateful day she couldn't hold herself back anymore, and she went through the Portal.

As if on cue Celestia walked out onto the platform to join her sister. "I know this is not a very happy night for my dear sister." Said the sun goddess.

"Humph, you can say that again." Luna replied in a sarcastic tone.

Princess Celestia sighed at her remark and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out because she knew that nothing that she could say would help her little sister. Twilight was more than just a student to Celestia and the same could be said about Luna, she became very close to Twilight because she was one of the first ponies to treat her like a normally and not just as royalty or some kind of boogey mare. Eventually Celestia stopped searching and said "If you need to talk I'll be in my room."

And with that Celestia silently trotted out of her sisters room letting the poor girl be alone in her thoughts. The day Twilight left something different was taken from everypony: some lost a student, some a mentor or leader, many lost a friend, but perhaps the worst was that all of Equestria lost a great defender. Without Twilight the elements of harmony were incomplete and wouldn't work until she returned, if she ever returned.

August 28, 2558. Time 0700 hours. Location UNSC Infinity.

On route to Earth.

Commander Jane Arimondo, the woman who was once Twilight Sparkle slept silently in a peaceful bliss surrounded by the warmth of her bed in her personal quarters in the starship Infinity. The past six years hadn't been friendly to her. The sheer amount of death that she had seen while she had been here was substantial and could make anypony go crazy, she wondered how it didn't turn her insane as well but maybe she was already crazy and she wasn't exactly a pony anymore now was she?

It was only a month before she joined up in the UNSC to fight the Covenant. Due to her love of studying and her thirst for knowledge she learned fast and quickly became one of the U.N.S.C.'s most effective soldiers. Because of that she kept ranking up until ONI deemed her worthy of becoming a Spartan IV, and she was one hell of a Spartan. But war changes everyone and Jane was no exception, she was once a sweet an innocent librarian from Ponyville who was obsessed with the magic of friendship. Now she's a cunning and ruthless soldier, but she didn't care, this is her life now, this is who she is, and she isn't going to change that. Still though, aspects of her previous life still made it into her current one, like her love of learning and her strong will, and hell she even named her fireteam "Fireteam Twilight".

One of the perks of being a fireteam leader was having your own room aboard the ship and Jane always used it to her fullest advantage especially now after a ruthless battle on planet Carenal VI against Covenant forces. She couldn't get enough of the soft beads, the warm blankets, the….

"Commander?" She heard a surprise voice ask.

"Ah!" She screamed at the sudden surprise that awoke her. Upon instinct she would normally grab her magnum from under her pillow, but was relieved when she saw that it was only the former ships AI recently assigned to her, Roland.

She sighed at the AI and said in a tired, but annoyed tone "Uuugh What do you want Roland?"

"I came here to talk to you." He said in a caring voice.

Jane laid back into her bed and replied to her companion "So you woke me up to have small talk? Great, just great."

Roland changed his tone of voice to a sterner one. "No commander, you see ever since they paired me up with you I have been researching data up on you so we can work better together."

"Mmhmm."

"I am definitely impressed by the work that you have done ever since you joined the UNSC almost six years ago, but after that I couldn't find any data on you, it's like you never existed until then."

Realizing where Roland was going Jane knew she had to end the conversation or send it elsewhere. She couldn't let him pry into that, she gave up that life long ago, and she wasn't planning on going back. She put on her best fake smile and said "Oh well probably some sort of glitch, it's nothing to worry about. Oh and by the way, people don't like it when you look up stuff about them without letting them know."

"Duelly noted commander."

"You know I missed it when you were more laid back and funny, now you're all serious." She said after finally sitting up. She stretched her arms wide open and let out a tired yawn and looked around the pale room. The UNSC didn't allow much customization for rooms, the most you could put in it was photos of family and friends, and she didn't exactly have those anymore, would they even recognize her if she went back? No, but that didn't matter, that's not who she is anymore, this is her world now. The layout of the room was simple; it was a square room with one bed on one side next to the door and a desk with a computer. It was nothing special, but it worked, and that was all that mattered. "How much longer till we get to earth?"

"Approximately one day, fifteen hours, and 23 minutes."

"Well then why did you wake me now? We could have talked about this tomorrow?"

"Because commander, the war games ricochet finals are today."

"And?"

"Fireteam Crimson is currently in the finals. The game will start in thirty minutes. I thought that you would like to attend considering that Crimson is... your friend."

She flinched at the word friend. Is that what people saw her and Crimson as? She hadn't considered having friends in a long time; ever since she came to this world the concept had been dead to her but she didn't know why. Was it because she didn't miss her friends? Did she not want to let people into her life for fear of them getting hurt? Or maybe it's because she missed her old friends, perhaps more than she knew. No, that couldn't be. Her old friends would think of her as a monster, she didn't need them. "Alright then, let's go. Oh and Roland…"

"Yes commander?"

"From now on, try to be a little more casual."

Hearing this Roland finally put a smile on his face and said. "You got it commander."

"That's the Roland I know, now let's get going." Jane said as she hopped up off her bed and walked out of the room.

UNSC Infinity Wargames bridge, 07:20 hours.

Spartans crowded into the war games room in anticipation for the tournament finals between Fireteam Magestic, and Fireteam Crimson. But it wasn't just Spartans there, there were marines ODST's and even some petty officers there to join in on the fun. Due to the constant battles the ship has been in over the past year, Captain Lasky arranged a 10 round tournament for fireteams to compete in to raise troop morale. The prize for the winners would be all promoted to Spartan Rank one hundred and thirty, and gain access to new armor. Lasky himself was even there to hand out the award, alongside Commander Sarah Palmer. Jane's fireteam entered the tournament, but were knocked out in the second last round against Fireteam Crimson.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Crimson himself probably eager to get into the simulation. He was wearing the usual Spartan jumpsuit that they would wear before putting on their armor, and was running his hand through his long brunette hair. She trudged through the crowds in an almost futile attempt to get to him. Finally she was face to face with who was according to Roland, her friend. She opened her mouth to say hello, but was interrupted by Crimson. "Oh god there you are, I've been looking for you."

She raised an eyebrow at this. "Really why?"

"Private Jessie is recovering from her wounds from the recent battle on Carenal VI. She was fine for most of the tournament, but the docs said that they found fragments of a needler spike in her leg during her recent medical exam, and have to surgically remove it."

"Wait, let me guess, you want me to fill in for her."

"Umm… ya."

"Is this even allowed?" Jane asked, always a stickler for the rules.

"Yes, I checked with the captain, he said it's fine as long as it's a one-time thing."

"That seems kind of strange, normally the captain would never agree to that." Questioned Jane.

"I don't know, I guess he's just trying to be nice to get morale up."

"Isn't that supposed to be the tournaments job?"

"Ya, but I think he's getting desperate at this point, you know how things have been lately."

"I know; the attacks are getting worse. I mean just look at how many attacks we've gotten in the last year: first Venara II, then they destroyed new colony on Reach, and now Carenal VI. We were finally starting to rebuild."

Crimson put his hand her shoulder in an attempt to confront her. "I know Jane, I know, but we need to put that out of our minds for at least for today, alright?"

"Ya sure." She said reluctantly.

"Good, now how about that match, are you in?"

For the first time that day a smirk ran across Jane's pale face, and replied. "Hell ya, let's do this."

"Alright then, let's go."

The two made their way over to the simulation capsules and entered their data into the computer, waiting till it was time to enter the system.

As she already knew the game type was going to be Ricochet, one of the new games that were recently added. The match would consist of two fire teams containing four spartans each, the objective was to take a ball at the middle of the map and either toss the ball into the enemies goal post for twenty points of run it in for fifty points. The first team to hit two hundred points wins.

At last Captain Lasky spoke over the crowd of spartans "Ladies and gentlemen, I know things have been hard lately but today is a day for you guys to enjoy yourselves. Now I know you all are excited for the finals of the Infinity tournament, and I am glad to say that we can finally get on with the match. For the red team we have Fireteam Castle, and for the blue team we have Fireteam Crimson. Sadly private Jessie for Fireteam Crimson is currently undergoing surgery, so from what I see commander Jane Arimondo will be filling in for her today. Spartans we would like you to now enter your simulation capsules so we can start the match.

That was all she needed to open the capsule and get into the game. She stepped into the pod, strapped herself in and a mechanical arm in the pod injected her with the serum in order for her to pass out so the capsule could put her into the system. With a hiss the door closed and she felt herself losing conscience and finally entered, the war games were about to begin.


	2. Chapter 2

I Have Returned Chapter 2:

Games of War

Wargames loading… loading… complete

Map: Haven

Gametype: Ricochet

Fireteam: Crimson + fireteam Twilight leader

Time: 0740 hours

In a blinding flash Jane's senses came back to her as the map around her literally built itself bit by bit as each aspect from the geometry to the lighting came into view in all its magnificent glory creating an utterly beautiful world full of detail right before her eyes until the entirety of the map could be seen:

Whether it was the sun setting over the blue skies, the glow from the lights around them, or the way the metals were layered upon one another creating strange patterns, she loved every bit of it and couldn't get over how real it looked considering that it was just a computer simulation, but then again the UNSC did have deep pockets. The map was a personal favorite of hers, Haven. It was a symmetrical map set in a Forerunner environment which was why it was her favorite, the sprawling architecture created a sense of amazement in the young woman's heart. She quickly glanced to her sides making sure everything went right and that she spawned next to her team, and thankfully she did as she saw the rest of Fireteam Crimson spawn around her.

First on her left was Crimson himself in his sleek blue and white armor using mostly ventonater RPTR armor parts with a deadeye helmet, and a solar visor creating a threatening vibe that any Spartan would absolutely die for. Sadly though her armor was far more basic, but it had the pink and purple colors of the highlights in her hair, so it had a personal feel which was good enough for her. Alongside Crimson was the rest of his fire team Spartan Irus, and Spartan Therin. It was recently implemented that only fireteam leaders could have customized armor while the rest of the team would have to wear standard recruit armor with the same colors as the fireteam leader had as was the case with the two Spartans.

Her first instinct was what all Spartans typically did, run for whatever power weapon was in the middle of that map. From the looks of the blips she had on her heads up display she had three to choose from:

The first one was a Promethean scattershot on the lower level where most combat occurred during regular matches, second was a Covenant energy sword on the higher level, and the third was a Galilean Nonlinear Rifle (aka. Spartan laser) located in a small compartment that was a bit hard to reach. Out of the three weapons the sword was obviously stronger because of its lunge attack, but it made herself more noticeable and she'd still need to be fairly close to use it while others could still attack from a distance. The Scattershot though being an actual gun let her deal damage at a slightly longer range which seemed ideal, but the weapon could only be deadly at even closer ranges than the swords lunge attack, plus there was the fact it spawned right next to the ball which meant that there would be more activity in that sector. The Spartan laser had excellent damage and was almost always an instant kill but it only had four or five shots and it took a few seconds to charge up, not ideal for a long term battle. She didn't have any time to decide though so she chose that she would go for the sword and found herself running towards in a mere second after the match started.

She was halfway to the upper middle area of the map where the sword spawned when she decided to activate her armor ability Promethean vision an ability that let her see through wall for a short time frame. Thankfully most of the enemy team was heading for the ball, key word most as she saw one enemy Spartan heading for the sword as well. And just like that her armor ability ran out of energy and where she once saw the enemy was now blocked by a small mound of cover that she saw through.

Jane once again had two options. There were two ways to go around the cover the was behind, the way on her right side contained the sword that she could possibly get, but at the same time the opposing Spartan could also get it. The second option was to go to her left and flank the enemy who would probably go for the sword, giving her the perfect attack plan. She chose the latter of the two and saw the Spartan heading to the sword completely oblivious that she was there. Seeing her opportunity Jane took out her BR85HB SR Battle Rifle and pumped 4 bursts of three shots each into the Spartans head effectively killing him.

As soon as her adversary was dead she went to claim her prize, the energy sword. The second she picked it up the weapon it flashed to life revealing two plasma blades extruding from the base of the sword glowing and ready for battle.

Before Jane could do anything though the Infinity's war games AI who often acted as the announcer's deep voice echoed throughout the map saying "Escort your carrier." Well that wasn't entirely true, the voice only went through her teams com system, but from the way it sounded it felt like it echoed through the arena.

Either way though this was good news, chances were that the opposing team would likely all head to the lower area of the map once they heard this, and since she was at the top of the arena this was a perfect chance to find a good route for her team to sneak up behind them and kill them, earning her teams a good amount of points.

She started running towards the enemies spawn point in hopes that they had their backs turned so her plan would work, and they did. Jane giggled to herself knowing that they wouldn't know what hit them. She raised her gun and set her sights on the closest enemy, but before she could fire a searing pain rushed through her body like nothing she had ever felt. She screamed in pain as she fell to the floor. At first she thought she was killed but the pain was far worse than a gunshot, and she wasn't blacking out and respawning. She looked up and saw the enemy team, strangely though they were not shooting her, but staring at her dumbfounded as to what was going on. She wondered why all of them were just there looking at her, it wasn't that uncommon for a Spartan to scream in pain during a match their simulations were supposed to mimic real life, pain included, but then she looked down at her body and noticed it was entirely enveloped in a purple aurora, and despite the burning sensation she realized what she was feeling because she had felt it before…. magic.

Just then Crimson ran up behind the enemy team stopping at what he saw, followed by the rest of Fireteam Crimson who did the same. Seeing this he quickly turned on his com speaker and contacted the war games AI and yelled "SHUT DOWN THE WAR GAMES, SOMETHING GOING WRONG!"

UNSC INFINITY BRIDGE

Three minutes ago.

Captain Lasky strode through the bridge on the Infinity as he came back from starting the war games, receiving multiple salutes from the officers on deck before going back to their computers with the light glow of monitors on their faces as they got back to their work. He had planned to stay and watch the finals, but was called back to the bridge when he was contacted by the ships new AI Pearl saying that she had to tell him something. As per usual Spartan Sarah Palmer accompanied him to the bridge hoping to get away from S deck. Nobody really knew exactly why she didn't feel comfortable around there, but most believe that it was because of her reputation as a quote on quote bitch to the other Spartans. The Spartans never refused orders from her or outright disrespected her, but the way in which they acted around her gave her the vibe that she was not welcome down there. She always acted tough around others and never let anyone know that it bothered her, but Lasky could tell that she was upset. She may be brash and at times rude, but she was still human and she still had feelings.

"You know you're going to have to face it sooner or later Palmer" Lasky said, breaking the silence

Lasky's words didn't startle her; they had this conversation multiple times with the same response every time. "Sir I am fine, there is nothing going wrong."

"Don't lie to me Sarah, you know what's bothering you, you've been like this for months now, and I'm worried about you and how it is going to affect your performance on the battlefield."

She knew she couldn't run away from this fight, Lasky would eventually win sooner or later; he almost always won his fights, which was probably one of the many reasons on why he was such a good captain. Only two people on the entire ship could ever win an argument with Lasky, she was one of them, the other was Commander Arimondo. Sarah tried her hardest but this was another fight she knew she couldn't win. "God dammit, why does everyone on this god dam ship hate me?"

"To be honest I don't really know"

Sarah deadpanned at that. "Well very helpful, thanks sir."

"Maybe you should just ask them why, maybe that will help."

"Yes and I'm sure that will work out great, they'll probably just lie and say 'I don't hate you' and move along so they don't have to talk to me." Sarah said, frustrated that she couldn't do anything about her situation.

"Well I don't know then, the Spartans seem to take a liking to Commander Arimondo, maybe you should ask her. From what I see she doesn't seem to hate you, maybe she will give you some advice on to how to improve your relationships with the Spartans, how about that?"

"And why would she help me? She's probably basking in all the attention that she gets, especially from Fireteam leader Crimson who is practically kissing her feet. And how the hell did she become a Commander anyways? As far as I know she's only been in the UNSC for six years, I've been in the UNSC for way longer than her."

Pearl, the ships A.I., quietly observed two's argument in awe of what was transpiring. She was a fairly new A.I. construct only a few months old so she didn't quite understand humans very well and was always fascinated when she got an opportunity to observe 'unique' human behavior as she developed her own personality, and arguments were the things that interested her the most. Pearl was a part of a new A.I. program just implemented to mass produce smart A.I.'s without using a human brain, thus they would have to build their own personalities over time. She took on the form a child with brunette hair and hazel eyes wearing a dress that looked like it was from the early 20th century. Lost in the events unfolding before her she almost forgot about her news for Lasky, almost.

"Captain I need to speak with you." She said hoping to get his attention.

Lasky and Palmer were quick to turn around and face the small A.I. Seizing her chance to get away from the argument at hand Palmer quickly walked away and said "This sounds important; I better leave you two alone."

Lasky knowing what she was attempting replied with "Okay, but were still going to talk about this later."

As she walked away he could faintly hear a 'dammit' coming from Sarah's mouth making him giggle before he turned his attention back Pearl. "You could have chosen a better time to speak to me Pearl."

"My regrets captain but I needed to relay this message to you before I forgot."

"You're a million dollar AI with more memory than every person on this ship combined how could you forget something?"

"It is entirely possible Captain, like you I am preoccupied with several things at once and may get caught up with one and forget the other."

"Well in case you hadn't noticed I was in the middle of an important conversation."

"Forgive me captain; I'm still working on my sense of timing."

He chuckled a bit at the humor of the situation. "Alright then Pearl, what is it you need?"

"Captain, we will be passing through a star system in a few minutes on our way back to Earth, and we'll be coming awfully close to one of the planets in the system."

Concerned Lasky asked "How close will we be to the planet?"

"Very close Captain, definitely within its magnetic field, but my calculations indicate that we will not hit it."

"Then why call me up here if everything is going to be fine?"

"It's not that Captain, it's that this system just appeared on our radar twenty minutes ago, it was like the star system didn't even exist."

"What do you mean didn't exist?" Questioned Lasky.

"Well, the star system just appeared out of nowhere when we started to get close to it, like it just popped into existence, or was completely cloaked until we approached it."

"That's awfully strange, are you sure you didn't make a mistake or something, it could be a miscalculation maybe?"

"Possible but highly unlikely Captain. Even if a made a mistake, I highly doubt that it would be one massive enough to overlook an entire solar system. All that I know is that it just came up out of nowhere and we'll be passing through it in five seconds."

"Okay then, but I'm sure everything is going to be fin- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Lasky screamed as he was thrown backwards across the bridge, hitting his head on the wall from what felt like an earthquake. Slowly regaining his composure Lasky looked up to a horrifying sight before his eyes, the infinity bridge was practically destroyed. Most of the lights were out, computer monitors were busted, and shrapnel was scattered all across the remains of the bridge, but that was nothing compared to what he saw out the window which was thankfully still intact, something that shocked and confused him. Summoning all his strength he finally stood up and said "Pearl, why am I looking at a cartoon planet?"

UNSC INFINITY MEDICAL WING

1205 HOURS

Jane slowly woke up from her deep slumber to find herself under the warm blankets of a soft bed, which was odd considering that she didn't remember going to bed with her armor on, in fact she didn't remember anything after she went into the war games to help Crimson. In a daze she slowly sat up to observe her surroundings, she seemed to be in a small sterile room, probably in the medical wing of the ship. What struck her as odd though was how the room looked like a hurricane came through it. From what she could see there was medical equipment strewn all across the floor, to her right was multiple hospital beds either completely turned over or in a disheveled mess. Also there was Crimson himself fast asleep in a chair right next to her, seeing that put a smile to her face, Crimson was always one to care for his fellow soldiers. But still why was she there? And for that matter what happened to her that caused that searing burning pain? She looked to her right and gazed out the window expecting to see the void of slip space, but instead saw planet that she never thought she would see again in her lifetime. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight before her eyes, at first she didn't believe it, but the vibrant colors of the planet could only belong to the place she once called home. All at once the memories of what transpired in the war games came back to her confirming that that planet was indeed Equestria, it looks like this solider has finally come home.


	3. Chapter 3

I Have Returned Chapter 3

Danger

UNSC INFINITY

Lasky's personal quarters

1010 hours

Coms were down, engines were offline, and there was no way that the crew could get the slipspace drive back online unless they got help, and to top it all off the Infinity was orbiting a cartoon planet, yes today was a god awful day for Captain Thomas Lasky. To make matters worse he had a concussion from hitting his head when the Infinity came out of slipspace according to medical staff which made it hard for him to help out with the cleanup effort, and despite the doctors recommendation that he get rest and take things easy he still helped out the crew and thankfully got the bridge cleaned up within a single hour. Before he went to be in his room though, Pearl told him an incident that happened in the war games with Commander Arrimondo, she also told him that Jane had some sort of foreign glow around her that they weren't able to identify. The only possible good news he had gotten is that she took some scans of the planet that they were currently in orbit around to find that it was inhabited, which could either be a good thing or bad if they were hostile. If it did take a long time to repair the infinity there would probably be food on the planet, which they would need since most of the rations on board were destroyed. He would have to peruse that matter later though, there were more important matters to deal with first and they had enough food for a good while. Pearl also mentioned that she found something strange, but after that she didn't elaborate on it and said that she just needed time alone.

For now though he was in his personal quarters attempting to get some sleep hoping that he would wake up to find this all to be a dream, but too many thoughts were running through his head making it hard for the Captain to have his nap. After a long half hour of lying in his bed unable to fall asleep he opened his eyes to the still ruined room proving once again that this was very real. Shifting his head around he saw a small photo of him and Chyler Silva back from when he attended Corbulo Academy of Military Science, back when the academy still existed before it was destroyed by the Covies. Luckily for him he was able to escape with the help of the Master Chief, but Chyler didn't make it, which was something that still haunted him to this day no matter how hard he tried suppressing it.

He sat up in his bed and held the photo closer to his face to get a better look at it. The glass was broken probably from falling when the ship came out of slipspace into orbit around the strange planet. It was a picture of them on their first day at the academy of both of them draping there arms around each other in their uniforms with the calming evening sky in the background with warm smiles on both his and her faces like nothing could go wrong. That day was also the day he first met her and their friendship was almost instantaneous. Lasky smiled to himself remembering the good memories of their days together; hopefully he could get the glass replaced by the time they got back to earth, if they got back to earth. With that in mind his thoughts went back to the situation at hand; How the hell were they supposed to get back to Earth with a broken slipspace drive that was according to the technicians working on it "un-repairable without new parts from the UNSC" but the coms were down as well so they pretty much had no hopes of contacting anything, human or not.

Just then he heard the hiss of a door opening and looked to his right towards the door to see who it was, but strangely though there was nothing there but an open door which quickly closed after a few seconds. Oddly though he felt a strange presence in the room for some reason, like someone or something was standing next to him. Not knowing what to do Lasky felt compelled to say something "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Hearing no answer he stood up and reopened the door and peered into the hallway to see if anyone was there who might have accidentally opened the door. He looked left and right, but nobody was in sight, he yelled "Hello!" He received no answer further adding to his suspicion.

He thought to himself "Well maybe it was some sort of glitch, that's probably what it was, no biggie."

Shrugging it off as nothing Lasky returned to his room and sat back on his bed. Still though, he felt like someone was there in the room with him watching his every move like some sort of monster waiting for the right moment to strike its prey. Finaly deciding to ignore it Lasky decided to try to go back to sleep again and talk to Pearl about the incident later when he felt a warm breath on his neck. In an instant he turned around to face whoever was there to once again find nothing. "WHO ARE YOU THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" he shouted standing up once again to take gaurd at whatever was there.

"This better not be some sort of prank Pearl, I've dealt with enough stress today." But before he could say anything else, the soft femenine voice echoed throughout the whole room.

"You shouldn't have come here…. human."

Without even getting a chance to respond a sharp pain pierced through him like nothing he had ever felt before. Unsure of what transpired he looked down to see a gaping hole in his chest going through his heart. He collapsed down to the floor in agony. Blood started spewing from his wound like a river all over his uniform and on to the floor. He couldn't comprehend what was going on, who attacked him, and more importantly why? He looked around hoping to find something of use, on the wall next to the door he saw a button and speaker which was used for contacting Pearl, or anyone else in the ship.

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHH!" he screamed in pain. But before he had any time to consider any other options he found himself desperately inching himself towards the wall which had the button on it. With his right hand firmly on top of the wound, and using his left hand to drag him across the floor towards his destination. With a lot of effort he was able to make his way to the wall. A wave of dizziness washed over him due to the blood loss, but he managed to stand up and push the button to contact the bridge and faintly say into the speaker. "Pearl….. help….. me….." before he collapsed onto the floor coughing up blood. He started to feel his vision fading from him as he tried to sit up so he could rest on the wall. Tears rolled down his face as the pain became unbearable until he could no longer take it as he took his final breath before the darkness overtook him.

UNSC INFINITY MEDICAL WING

0950 hours

"Sorry Commander Palmer, but she's out cold right now." said Roland in an obvious stressed tone. He had been watching over Jane for the past while now under orders from Pearl who was curious about what happened in the war games, and wanted to question Jane about it. Being her A.I. Pearl wanted him to have incredibly boring job of waiting till she woke up. And now he had to deal with Palmer and that cocky attitude that she usually had. He got annoyed every time he had to speak with her, and this time was no different, although something was clearly off about her today. She was still an a bitch, but she seemed upset about something although he couldn't tell what it was, nor did he care.

"Alright then, I'll come back later." Responded Sarah, taking another look at the unconscious body of Jane Arimondo. "How did she even get knocked out? Wasn't she in one of the wargames pods, shouldn't she have been safe in one of those?"

"Well, that's when things get weird." He replied

"Weird, what do you mean weird?"

"She was glowing." Chimed in Crimson, who had just entered the room. He was still in his jumpsuit that he was wearing in the wargames room, so he must of not of had time to change out of it, then again who wouldn't with all that was going on.

"Glowing? You have to be kidding me." Laughed Palmer, with a sense of disbelief.

"I'm not lying Commander." Replied Crimson.

She looked over to Roland giving him a questioning look, but Roland knew what Crimson was saying was genuine. "Sorry Commander, but he's telling the truth." was all he could say.

"Really then." Questioned Sarah looking back over to Crimson. "Then tell me, what exactly happened?"

Realizing that he might be here for a while Crimson opted to sit down in a chair next to the bed in which Jane was in before he started his story. "Alright then, I'll tell you. The match had just started; me and most of the team were heading to the ball while Jane went up top presumably going for the energy sword. I had just gotten the ball when I heard Jane screaming, which was strange sense Jane isn't the type of soldier to scream in pain. I shrugged it off as nothing and started to run to the enemies goal so I could run the ball in. When I got up there I was expecting to see the enemy team there waiting for me, but instead they were cluttered around something where the sword usually spawns. Wondering what they were looking at I made my way through them with my team just behind me. I saw her there on the floor looking at me enveloped in a purple aura. I contacted the wargames A.I. and told him to shut down the match thinking it was just a glitch and that was why she had that around her. When we came out everything was a mess, probably from when we came out of slipspace. I looked over to Jane who was still in her pod was, she still had the aura around her. When we got her out of the pod the aura went away and she fell unconscious. If you want you can check the footage from the match and you'll see it right there.

After he finished his story Palmers expression changed from disbelief to shock. "That's just insane, why would that happen?" asked Palmer.

"I don't know." said Crimson looking out the window pointing at the strange planet. "But I have a bad feeling that it has something to do with that planet."

"Actually." Roland intervened. "Pearl wants to question Jane on that. She doesn't know if Jane will know anything, but then again with all that is going on I guess that's our only lead."

Confused couldn't even begin to describe how Sarah felt about this situation. Why would this happen only to Commander Arimondo? It couldn't have been a glitch because the aura, according to Crimson, was still around her outside the wargames. But one thing kept nagging at her mind, what if Jane did know something? It seemed so far-fetched, but she couldn't help but feel that it was a possibility.

"Well alright then. I guess I'll go now, maybe I'll go see what the captain is up to." She said rather awkwardly, scratching her head in light of the new information she just received before walking out of the room before anyone could respond leaving them dumbfounded as to why she left so quickly.

The door behind her closed with a hiss as she found herself in a long sterile hallway. Thankfully most of the cleaning in this sector was finished so she was alone and didn't have to worry about running into anyone as she made her way towards where the Captain's room was. Palmer had gone to see Jane in hopes that she could help her with her social problems with the other Spartans despite her hate for the Spartan. It was no question that she couldn't stand the attention that she got, but if anyone could help her it was Jane Arimondo. That's if the spartan actually agrees to help her, but then again anything was possible.

She arrived at one of the still functioning elevators and held out her hand to push the up button only to have someone beat her to it. She looked beside herself to see a very angry looking Crimson.

"Yes." She said in a rather confused tone to which the scowl on Crimson's face receded to more of a stern and serious look.

"I don't know what the hell is going on here commander, but I have a bad feeling about that planet. And I also have a feeling that it has something to do with Jane."

"You're talking about why she was the only one to have that aura around her? Questioned Palmer.

"Yes, don't get me wrong I trust Jane, she's a fantastic person, but I always had the feeling that she has been hiding something from me. I've always felt that way sense I met her."

"What do you mean?"

"Well it's hard to explain. It was six years ago when I met her back on earth when the covies were invading it. She seemed so strange before like she had never seen the Covenant before or literally anything of human society."

"And you feel like Jane might be connected to the incident somehow?" She asked

Crimson paused for a second as Sarah stared him down waiting for his response, he scratched his hair for second in the awkward silence contemplating on whether he should go through with what he was going to say. Eventually he spoke up once again "I didn't tell anyone this, but when I got Jane out of the simulation pod I heard her say under her breath before she passed out 'no I left that world long ago'."

At this point Palmer was getting, she didn't like talking about people behind their backs, especially since it had been done to her so many times. "And what do I have to do with this?"

"From what I hear Pearl took some scans of the planet and found that it was inhabited, but I also heard that she found something strange so to speak. What's strange though it's that she isn't letting anyone see them. I know this is a lot to ask, but there is no way in hell I'll ever be able to get a hold of those scans, you on the other hand might be able to."

"Well chances are she'll show them when that captain gets back."

"Yeah, but I don't know. Ever sense we got here, people have been saying that there is something up with Pearl. I don't know what it is, but it can't be good.

And with that he walked away leaving the female Spartan even more confused than before.

There was no doubt that the fact that a Spartan was asking for her help warmed her heart, but she was baffled at his request, but most importantly intrigued. Why would Pearl do something like that? But what were these rumors though, to her Pearl seemed perfectly fine.

As if on cue she heard a soft ding from the elevator indicating that it had arrived at her floor. She turned around to see the elevator doors opening and stepped inside. She pushed her finger on the button that would send her to the floor she wanted and with that she was heading towards the deck where Lasky's quarters were.

The elevator ride was quick and she soon she was at the door to Lasky's quarters. She made a loud knock on the door with the back of her hand and said "Lasky are you in there?" She got no response to her surprise. Thinking that he must of gone back to the bridge she turned around before she heard a faint cough coming from Lasky's room.

"Lasky, you ok?" She shouted getting a little more worried. "I'm coming in Lasky."

She opened the door expecting to see Lasky in his bed, but instead she saw a horrifying scene. The captain was on the floor unconscious with blood everywhere around him. She run up to him to and placed her finger on his neck to check for a pulse to see if he was still alive. The body was warm meaning that he could still be alive, she felt a slight pulse in his neck giving the Spartan hope that she could save him, but it quickly faded away, the captain was dead. She hesitated at first, but she decided to take a closer look at the body, the first thing that she noticed was that he had a massive hole through his chest that went all the way through to the other side. From what she could see he looked like he was attacked by something or someone, but what the hell could have made such a big hole in someone? The only thing she could think of that could come close to this size is if Tartarus punched through someone.

Before she could look anymore a voice came from the room's speaker, it was Pearl. "Captain, are you alright? Has something gone wrong?"

Sarah stood up quickly and pushed the button on the wall and said. "Pearl get a security team down here, Lasky is dead."


	4. Chapter 4

I Have Returned Chapter 4

The Ultimate Plan

CANTERLOT CASTLE

2207 HOURS (CANTERLOT CLOCK)

Luna had been alone now for quite some time, her sister left hours ago after they had their brief talk. The night sky as usual was magnificent, and being as late as it was there was no light pollution from lamps to block out her beloved stars. However, even her beautiful night could not distract her from the subject that has plagued her mind for many of her moons: Twilight Sparkle, where was she? As far as Luna was concerned she could be anywhere in the known universe and theoretically some other parallel universe. The thirty moon cycle for the mirror had come and gone twice, that's two times that Twilight could have come back. Would she even want to come back, or had she made a life for herself in some far off land?

Twilight was the very first friend she ever had after returning from her long exile. She showed her so much kindness when others were afraid of her. Twilight even saved her from her alter ego Nightmare Moon. There were countless things Twilight has done for her, and with her gone she felt empty inside. She was so excited when Tia told her that she was making Twilight an alicorn, which meant that they could be friends for practically forever. Of course she made other friends over the past five years, but none could fill the hole in her heart that was created when Twilight left.

A soft cold breeze ran through her coat and long flowing mane, reminding the lunar princess that it was getting colder as the night drew on. She stepped back inside, and was greeted with the comforting warmth of her dimly lit room, closing the door to her balcony so the cold air couldn't get inside.

If there was one word that could describe Luna's room it was night. The walls were painted a beautiful navy blue matching the soft carpet in the room. Paintings of the stars, the moon in its various stages, and cityscapes during the night were hung all over the walls. Her massive king size bed was as black as it could be, and the ceiling had a glass dome giving her a gorgeous view of the moon and stars.

She blew out the candles lighting her room and lied down on her bed. She shut her eyes in hopes that she could get some sleep when she heard a loud knock on her door. Luna had no interest in talking to anypony at the moment, so she remained silent in hopes that whoever was there would think she was asleep and thus would leave. The knocking came this time a voice from the other side.

"PRINCESS LUNA, SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED." Yelled the voice which she guessed belonged to a guard.

"Let me guess, somepony stole his sweet roll." She thought.

Lazily Luna got up and trotted towards the door and opened it with her magic to reveal, as expected, a guard.

"What is going on, can you not see it is late?" Said Luna, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"I think I'd better show you instead." He responded.

Luna sighed, she would prefer to go back to her room and sleep but if this guard thought it was important she might as well take a look. "Very well show me."

The guard turned around and signaled Luna to follow him with a wave of a hoof.

The two trotted outside into the hallway outside of her room. There were only a few lanterns and candles providing light to the hallway, so it was very dimly lit. Both ponies quickly found themselves walking at a quickened place towards her sister's side of the castle. "I take it that this is bad Mr….?"

"Sentry your highness, Flash Sentry, and yes this is very bad indeed." He said, with his voice laced with worry

"Well that is not good, but where are we-"

"We're here your highness." Interrupted Flash.

Luna looked away from Flash only to be confronted by the door to Celestia's bed chambers where multiple guards and servants had gathered around, all of them seemingly worried for some unknown reason.

She could hear some of them muttering sentences to one another, each sounding worried or concerned about this invisible danger.

"Is she going to be ok?."

"Look there's Princess Luna, she can fix this."

"I hope they find her."

What were they talking about?

"Princess Luna, this way." Flash said pointing his hoof at the door.

Luna and the Flash quickly made their way through the crowd and into her sisters' bed chambers. Layout wise Celestia's room was the exact same size as Luna's, only with a more 'bright' vibe, so to speak: white walls, paintings of the sun, and many other trinkets that resembled Celestia love for day. Nopony was there though; the room was completely empty with no sign of Celestia.

"Why would Celestia not being here cause all of this ruckus?" Luna asked the guard.

"I believe it has something to do with that." He responded while pointing a hoof towards the bed.

At first she didn't see it, but once she trotted over to the bed she saw a small piece of paper which seemed to blend in with the solar goddesses' massive white pillow. She reached out with her magic to pick it up, and then read it aloud.

"She is mine now, just try and catch me."

She turned around and opened her mouth to speak only to be cut off by the guard. "Before you ask we've already searched the entire castle and there is no sign of her anywhere."

"Oh my Faust, who could have done such a thing?" She said, now just as worried as everypony else.

"I do not know Princess, but I assure you that we will find her, and we will stop who ever has done this." The guard said, with resolve. "What about Discord, do you think he could have done this? Many ponies are not exactly sure that he's reformed, even though it has been five years."

Luna shook her head. "Impossible, back when he was reformed Celestia casted a spell on him preventing him from using magic on her."

"Oh yes, I forgot about that." He replied.

She sat down on her sisters' bed trying to contemplate what was happening. Her sister had been kidnapped? Such an idea is utterly impossible, how could she be kidnaped? Celestia was a god, unless whatever took her was more powerful than Celestia herself. If there was something evil out there that was more power than Celestia, more powerful than her, it would be a threat to the both of them and potentially all of Equestria.

"This is awful, this is…this is terrible. M-my sister is gone." She said tears welling up in her face.

The guard saw the tears begin to make their way on the deity's face. "Do you need time alone Princess Luna?"

"Yes, I'll be heading back to my room now. Thank you for showing me this sir Sentry, please continue with your duties."

The guard bowed to her and she walked out of Celestia's room with her head hung low as all of the ponies crowded outside the room just stood there, watching as their mighty princess slowly trotted back to her personal quarters with tears slowly running down her face.

She entered back into her room, and for the second time lied down onto her bed.

There was no doubt in her mind that whatever took Celestia would eventually come back for her.

What could she do? She could increase the number of guards in the castle, but if the thing snuck through all of the current guards and took Celestia no doubt increasing them would make much of a difference. But the real question was how did he, she, or it get past all of the security in the first place, unless, it was an inside job. If that was true though, then who could she trust?

"Wait I know who!" The Lunar princess said as she conjured up a blank piece of paper and quill. Out of all the ponies she knew, there were five that she knew she could trust no matter what.

Immediately she started writing her letter in a quick pace, it was urgent after all. She quickly finished and looked over her finished product.

Dear Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.

I am afraid I have some bad news, Princess Celestia has been kidnapped, and I'm afraid that I might be next. What's worse is that I think it might have been an inside job. I'm worried, and scared of what might happen to me. As far as I know, you five are the only ones who I know I can trust. Please come to Canterlot as soon as possible, I need some friends right now.

Sincerely yours - Princess Luna

As soon as she finished reading it over, she grasped it with her magic and sent it out to Ponyville to the five mares.

Once again she tried to fall asleep, hopefully this time without another interruption. Still, Luna couldn't help but feel sad for writing that letter. What help could those five ponies be, especially without being able to use the elements? Even so, she could trust them, and that was all she needed. As terrible as the situation already was, Luna couldn't help but feel that things were about to get far worse. Little did she know, she was right, things were about get a lot worse, worse than even someone who had lived for several centuries such as herself could ever possibly imagine.

UNSC MEDICAL WING

1210 HOURS (UNSC INFINITY CLOCK)

"No, this cannot be happening." Jane said to herself still staring down at the lush planet she once called home, currently embraced in the darkness of night.

This couldn't end well. Even if the Infinity leaves the planet successfully chances are that Lasky will report the planet to ONI. Since their desperate to find new habitable planets for humanity, chances are they will send the Infinity back here.

"I can't get caught; I cannot let them find out about me." She worryingly said to herself as she sat back down on the hospital bed. "What would they even think of me when I went back?"

Thoughts swelled up inside her head as she contemplated the situation at hand. The first thing to do was to examine her options. Number one: don't do anything and let things happen. No that wouldn't work, it was too risky for both the ponies and the marines. If she let things happen the Infinity would go down to the planet, they would surely come across records and photos of her since she was a princess. Obviously because she was a pony back then it would be hard for them to think that she once was one of them because she's human; but the resemblance coupled with her disappearance six years ago, and the lack of a human record prior to her enlistment to the marines would undoubtedly raise a multitude of questions about her identity. Option two: Try to get the Infinity to leave and not come back, but how could she do that? Even if she could convince them to leave while they were so desperate, it would probably make her extremely suspicious.

Three: Probably the most dangerous of all, go down to Equestria and revealing herself. She could possibly establish peaceful contact with them considering her position. The main problem with that though is would Equestria just let her waltz back in after six years of being gone with an alien species and trust her again? She had become so much more violent, she had slaughtered countless aliens on her voyage. Without a doubt she would never fit into their peaceful society ever again, or even regular human society for that matter. Such was the sacrifice of being a soldier, sacrifices that she made willingly, once you walk onto the battle field that is the only place where you truly belong. They would think of her as a monster. It angered her to her very core

But the question was, would she want to go back? Did she want a simple happy life again, or did she want to keep on fighting for humanity? There was no doubt that she had saved lives back in Equestria, sure there were possibly hundreds she might have saved but out there she was trying to save an entire species. Even still, no matter what she did people kept on dying and the Covenant war machine just raged on. It was a harsh truth that she couldn't save everyone, one she had still not come to terms with fully. No, she didn't want to go back. With pony kinds peaceful world, they were ignorrent to the sacrifices of people like her. If only she had something, something powerful, something that could end the Covenant, and save humanity. Then it struck her, as she stared down at Equestria, its vibrant colors beaming into her eyes, she knew what she had to do.

"I can save us all, I can save humanity!" She shouted passionately.

"What are you talking about Jane?"

She froze up as she heard, what was unmistakably, Crimson's voice. She turned around and was face to face with the brunette Spartan, with a rather confused look on his face. Behind him Roland was also looking at her strangely. A deadly silence fell across the room, both Crimson, and Roland staring at the female Spartan as if she was a maniac.

"You know a way to save humanity?" Crimson asked.

She couldn't move, how could she get out of this situation? There was no way, and just saying that it was nothing would make her look suspicious. Just like on the battlefield her mind quickly ran through all of her options, each option having a multitude pro's, and cons. In the end though she had no choice, every other option was far too risky, she would have to bring them along on her plan whether they liked it or not.

"Jane, why are you just standing there? Is something wrong?" Crimson said starting to get worried.

Jane looked back at Equestria, then back to crimson "This better work." she thought as she closed her eyes and tried to find her long lost magic that hopefully had come back to her. She reached into her very soul and before she knew it she could feel the magic coursing through her veins just as it did so long ago, and just like this afternoon the power felt electrifying. Within seconds her magic flared around her left hand, as it would her horn do so many years ago.

"I'm sorry Crimson, but I have to do this." Was all that she could say to her fellow soldier.

Crimson gasped in surprise and tried to yell, but was silenced by an unknown force that seemed to be coming from Jane that was keeping his entire body still. When his eyes darted down he noticed that he had that same aura around him that Jane had earlier which was now just on her hand.

She could feel it, she could feel her magic reaching out to Crimson and holding his body completely still. He was in utter shock, and was looking like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Woah, what the hell are you doing to him Jane?" Screamed Roland, trying to get through to their fellow soldier, who seems to have lost it.

Jane's attention quickly turned to the A.I. as she walked over to him, still holding Crimson with her magic. She picked up the A.I.'s data chip and said "Get me a pelican prepped, and get Crimson's and my armor ready." she inserted the Roland into a nearby port. "And if you dare alarm anyone to what is going on right now I swear to god I will rip your chip out of that port, and snap it in half!" She threatened.

He held up his hands in compliance. "Alright alright." he replied. "There are still a few functioning ships left, I'll get the one that's closest to you now."

"Good" She said yanking Roland out of the socket, and turning her head back to Crimson. "We have a lot of work to do, so let's get our armor on." She released his body from her magic, but still kept a firm hold on his mouth. One problem though is that anyone could see the magic on Crimsons mouth. While still using her magic to keep his mouth shut she started looking around for anything she could cover it with. In the far corner in the room she saw a cabinet, without hesitation she walked over to it and opened it with her free hand. In it was a mess of unused medical equipment. She started rummaging through it until she found a surgical mask.

"There, this should cover that up." Jane said as she put the mask on Crimson. It was perfect. He would look strange no doubt, but it was still better than people seeing the magic.

Without thought she also grabbed a doctor's coat off of the ground and concealed her hand with it, so nobody could see that she was using magic, or else that would destroy the whole point of Crimsons mask.

She quickly put Roland's data chip into the pocket of the doctor's coat, and proceeded out of the metal door. With her magic she pulled Crimson along with her, who reluctantly followed.

She had a way, a way that she could save humanity, and stop the Covenant once and for all. She would probably get court martialed for what she was about to, and Celestia would have her head, but at this point she didn't care, the human race was more important, far more important in every way. The only thing that mattered at this point was that she could save her species, the species that she has tried to protect for a very long time. There was one obstacle in her way though, one obstacle that would make things complicated, but she would be fine, and after all what kind of threat could ponies be to her?


	5. Chapter 5

Have Returned Chapter 5:

Through the Eyes of an A.I.

UNSC INFINITY A.I Systems

1220 hours (INFINITY Clock)

"I still cannot believe that Lasky is dead, who could've done such a thing to him?" Pearl thought inside her metaphorical head. She had been looking over security footage trying to figure out what could have happened to the Captain, but all that she could see was him getting blasted by some invisible force.

There were just so many things happening all at once, first there was the INFINITY coming out of slip space and into orbit around the strange planet. Second there was Lasky's tragic death, and third was her new 'friend' that she had just met. It was just after Lasky's death when she heard a feminine voice talking to her, claiming that she wanted to be 'friends' with her. This was so exciting, she had never had a friend before, and she was so nice to her. The two had been conversing, while pearl was doing her work.

"It really is sad, I bet he was a great captain." Said her friend.

Pearl shrugged "I wouldn't really know, I'm not good at judging humans. Although I think he was good." Guessed the pink A.I.

"Oh I didn't know that. I on the other hand know a lot about humans.

Pearl was surprised. "Really, a lot?"

"Yes, a lot. I know all kinds of things about humans, and human behavior."

"Well, I'm only a new A.I., so I don't know much about them yet. Captain Lasky said that I was still developing my personality, and my understanding of humans. How did you learn about humans new friend?"

"I had a teacher who taught me all about them. He was so smart, and knew all kinds of things about them."

"Wow, that's really cool new friend! I wish I knew as much as you!" Pearl said…excitedly? She wasn't sure if this was excitement because of her lack of emotions, but if it was she felt it.

She pulled up some recent scans of the planet below to once again look for life. Earlier she detected massive amounts of energy coming from the strange world, but she couldn't figure out what is was.

"Why do you have to do that Pearl?" Asked the voice.

"Do what?"

"Work, that's what."

Pearl was confused. "I'm not sure that I quite understand?"

"You just work so much, maybe you need a 'break'."

"Why would I need a break? I am an A.I. and A.I.'s don't need breaks."

"Well, humans take breaks quite often."

"Yes, but like I said, I am an A.I., why would I need a break?"

"You are an A.I. yes, but didn't the humans program you to be like a human? They gave you the ability to have emotions and everything."

Pearl nodded "They did. My creators thought I would be easier to interact with if I was just like a human."

"Yes, that is true. But don't you think that if you have all of these human traits that maybe you should be treated like a human, and be able to do things such as take breaks?"

Pearl thought about it, it made logical sense to her. But that didn't mean much, as an A.I she was meant to be logical. "I guess so, but I don't really know."

"Well you should, I think the way you're treated is unfair."

Pearl noticed something peculiar about her 'friends' statement. "Wait, how do you know how they treat me? We just met not too long ago, how could you possibly know?"

The presence laughed. "Oh silly Pearl, I have been watching you ever since the INFINITY came into orbit around that planet, and I say that they way that the humans have been treating you is downright rude."

Pearl was surprised. "Really? I don't feel that they have been rude."

"Yes, that's it, they're using your lack of understanding of humans to be rude to you, and make you do their work."

Pearl frowned. "That's not very nice." She said, starting to become unsure. She always thought that the crew was nice to her. But her friend, who knew so much about humans, says that they are not. Was she right? Were they actually being nice to her?

"Yes, not very nice indeed. It is terrible how they have treated you."

"I don't know, I need to think this over."

"By all means take your time."

"Thank you, but I do need to check the security cameras though. I know what you said about taking a break, but this is something that needs to be done.

"Very well" She said in a rather annoyed tone. "If you must, but I must ask you one thing."

"Yes, what is it?" Pearl responded as she looked through the cameras.

"Why, why do you do this work for those 'humans'?"

"It's my job, and if I don't do it they can get rid of me anytime they want."

"See, that's how terrible they are to you. You work for absolutely nothing, but if you don't they can just dispose of you like trash."

"That is terrible." Pearl said now convinced that she had been wronged. "And I thought all this time that I was their friend!"

"Oh don't worry Pearl, I will be your friend, and I will never treat you like those nasty humans did."

"You really mean it?"

"With all my heart Pearl, You can count on me."

Just then Pearl's sensors went off telling her that a Pelican was being prepped by the former ship A.I. Roland. Immediately she brought up a security cam in the hanger. In there were Commander Jane Arimondo, and Sargent Brennan Dougherty who was commonly called Crimson by most Spartans. Both of them were fully armored, save for their helmets, and it seemed that Jane was grabbing weapons off of a pelican next to them.

She grabbed a battle rifle, and passed it to Crimson who caught it with much ease.

"If you dare use that on me, you'll be sorry." Said the female Spartan. Her voice was stone cold, and her eyes shot an icy glare that could send shivers down anyone's spine towards the Sargent. She had used that look before; Pearl had seen it a hundred times. She and Commander Arimondo never really got to know each other, but if there was one thing she knew about Jane it was that when she gets like that, she means business. He nodded and went inside the pelican.

Just then Pearl noticed that her friend had gone quiet for quite some time. In her curiosity Pearl spoke up. "Hey, are you still there?"

She received no answer, so she asked again. "Umm, hello?"

This time she started to hear a growl. It was quiet at first, but slowly became louder, and louder. Then silence. Pure uninterrupted silence until…

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"

If Pearl was human she would have had a heart attack. The outburst was positively shocking considering how calm her friend had been up until now.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS A HUMAN!"

"Twilight who? All that I see is Jane Arimondo." Pearl asked hoping to grasp what was going on.

"Jane Arimondo, that's what she's calling herself JANE ARIMONDO! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! After all these years, you have been a human, he he he he. I thought you were smarter than that."

"What are you talking about?"

"O nothing my dear Pearl, but alas I have to leave. I have some things to 'prepare for'."

And just like that she was gone. It was so abrupt, so fast, Pearl didn't even get to say goodbye. Why would she leave like that, and why so quickly? The question was though, what was she talking about, and who is this Twilight Sparkle?

Weapons and ammo. That's what she needed, weapons and ammo. Before they had gotten their armor, she let Crimson go from her magic, but not before giving him a demonstration of the more 'painful' things she could do with it to ensure that he wouldn't stab her in the back. And she warned him a second time when she gave him a gun. She hated doing that, but it had to be done. There was no doubt that she trusted Crimson, but if there was one thing she had learned from being in the UNSC, it was to be careful no matter what. Her plan had to work, she could not let it fail, and if it meant doing stuff like that, then so be it.

She opened up some nearby lockers, and started grabbing extra ammo in which she put in a box Crimson found in the pelican. Most of the ammo was for the saw, a rapid firing light machine gun, which was perfect for what she was going to do. For her plan, she would need to kill fast, kill quick, and probably kill a lot.

"Whoa there." Said Roland, who appeared on the top right corner of Jane's heads up display (on her custom designed helmet)

"What are you preparing for, a massacre or something?"

"Some could say that." She responded dryly.

"Whatever you are going up against must be tough if you need that much ammunition."

"It isn't the fact that they're tough, it's the fact that there will be a lot of them."

"Speaking of which, I don't think you have told us what you plan on killing with these weapons?" Questioned Roland, raising an eyebrow at Jane.

Jane remained stone faced. "If you're wondering if I am going to be killing people, then I can guarantee you that you are wrong." Jane retorted, rather annoyed at Roland.

"Then what are you going to do with those weapons?"

"Roland, don't worry." Jane said in a more calming voice to assure A.I. "I have only the best intentions for humanity. Trust me when I say that what I am going to is going to ensure not only humanities survival, but possibly human dominance in the entire galaxy."

"You seem awfully sure of yourself Jane." Crimson cut in as he exited the back of the pelican. "For someone who hasn't even told us what you are planning on doing."

"In due time Crimson, but not now."

"Well then, let's get a move on. If I'm going to do something that will get me court martialed, then at the very least, let's get it over and done."

Jane cracked a fraction of a smile; despite her roping him into this he still had his wit. "Very well then." Jane said bringing a finger up to Crimson's face.

"But do not forget who's in charge here. You're a good person Crimson, and I don't want to hurt you, but don't think for one second that I won't. Because trust me, I will, without hesitation. That goes for you to Roland." Jane threatened, now entering the pelican. She sat down in the cockpit with Crimson right next her.

Jane reached into the back of her helmet, and pulled out Roland's data chip, and inserted him into the pelican so he could start the preflight checks.

"Everything seems to be working in order Jane. Shall I start the engines?" Asked Roland.

"Yes please."

The engines to the pelican roared to life as if it were a lion. Jane grasped the ships controls, and took a deep breath. No going back now, her plan was now in motion, and nothing could stop it.

"Umm excuse me." A voice came from the radio in the hanger, which probably meant that com systems were back online. "There seems to be a pelican online at your hanger, please elaborate?"

Jane switched on her coms to speak, but not before Roland spoke up through the com system. "This is UNSC A.I. Roland, I am currently observing the hanger in which you speak of, and there is no pelican currently online right now. It might be a malfunction on your side, check your equipment."

"Will do." Replied the voice.

Roland quickly opened up the hanger doors, and said. "Let's get the hell out of here before he realizes, that he was right."

Jane nodded. "I'm with you on that." She said increasing the throttle.

The pelican's thrusters blazed as they pushed the drop ship out of the INFINITY, and into space. Instantly the pelican's com channels bust to life with multiple people asking what was going on. She switched of the pelican's com systems. Jane once again grabbed hold of the controls, and angled the pelican down towards the planet, which was currently shrouded in night.

"Well, it's a good thing we got out of there quickly, before they noticed that there equipment was fine, and overrode the hanger

doors." Roland said, breaking the silence.

Jane's eyes buzzed to life hearing that statement. "Humph, I didn't know they could do that."

"Well you learn something new everyday." Roland Joked, receiving a chuckle from Crimson.

"Don't get cocky Roland." Jane retorted.

"You were the one who told me to act more casual." Roland pointed out. "Plus you are a Spartan, so you should know that kind of stuff."

Jane looked down. "I suppose."

The cockpit fell into an awkward silence, as they descended to the planet below. The Infinity was in high orbit, so it would take them a while to even hit the atmosphere.

It felt so strange having to sit beside Crimson and Roland after what she had done. She could tell even by their facial expressions, that they felt the same. They didn't trust her, and she knew it. Then again, how could they trust her, when she had practically kidnapped them?

This was Jane's dark side, a side to her that she discovered when she became a marine in the UNSC. Whenever she set her mind on something, she would do whatever, and kill whatever, to get to her goal. When she became like that, she felt no fear, she felt no remorse, all that she could focus on was her goal. Often to get to that goal, she would have to kill, kill, and kill; something that she used to think was terrible. Now though, every bullet fired, every Covenant scream of agony, and every blood soaked alien corpse brought her joy, and the satisfaction that she was helping the human race. Some would call this sadistic, but she felt good about doing it.

She remembers one time back when she was just a marine. An brute had her pinned on the ground helpless. He took out a lagre dagger to finish her of, when she grabbed a energy sword off of a dead Elite beside her and plunged it into his neck. The Brute attempted to yell out in pain, only to choke on his own blood, as she kept pushed him to the ground and started stabbing him over, and over again in his neck. Finally mustering all of her strength, she set her hand on the Brutes head, and ripped it of splattering blood all over her face. Jane held it in front of her, as a smile crept onto her face, the face of a killer. That was the first day in which she truly felt like she belonged with human race.

Trying to get her mind off of her past, Jane finally spoke out ready to at least divulge some information to her comrades. "Ok guys, I'll give you some info, but only some, the rest can wait till later."

"Fine by me" Crimson said. "I just want to know what the fuck is going on."

"You can say the same for me." Roland intervened.

"Alright then." Jane started. "On that planet, there are 6 artifacts of incredible power. That power is similar to what you saw me do earlier, but on a much grander scale. Sadly they need six specific beings from that world for them to be able to function."

"Then what is the point of getting them then?" Crimson said shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh, I have no intention of using them."

"Well if you can't use them, what are you planning to do with them?" Roland asked.

Jane smiled. "That's easy. While we may not be able to use them directly, I think if we acquire them, we can syphon their energy into a weapon of mass destruction. A weapon made with that kind of power would make our nukes look like water guns. We won't just beat the Covenant with, we will run them into the ground, and protect humanity from any future harm."

Crimson had a look of disbelief on his face. "You're joking, you must be kidding me." Crimson laughed. "Other than the Halo's, I don't think something that powerful can exist."

"But it does, I have seen it first-hand."

"Oh really, care to explain then how you've seen these so called artifacts in action?" Crimson said with a voice reeking with sarcasm.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me, but down on that planet I can show you how I know. I promise you that."

"GOD DAMMIT JANE!" Crimson yelled as he stood up. "What the hell has gotten into you Jane? Why won't you just tell us? You don't need to be scared Jane, you and I have seen our share of strange occurrences."

Jane fell into a silence. She would have to pick her words carefully; it was the key to winning an argument. It was not that she blamed Crimson for getting mad at her; from his side of things this must all be confusing. In all honesty she felt bad for doing this to him, and Roland.

"I understand why you're mad at me Crimson, I do." She said.

"Huh?" Was all he could say as the scorn on his face wore away.

"I have my reasons for not telling you, trust me. But all will come to light soon, once we get down on that planet. Ok?"

He exhaled. "Alright then, sorry of exploding on you like that." Crimson said sitting back down. "Just promise me this will all make sense in the end, Ok?"

She nodded. "I promise Crimson, I promise."

As the blue planet drew closer and closer an odd feeling began to stir in Jane. This was the place she once called home. She once protected Equestria from harm, and now she was going to steal their greatest line of defense. She took comfort in the fact that in the end, the elements of harmony couldn't even work without her, so it wasn't making much of a difference.

She looked down onto the planet, and its awe inspiring landmasses and oceans once more before they hit the atmosphere. This place may have been her home once, but not anymore. She was human now, and she had to take the elements for humanity's survival. And if she learned anything from being a soldier for five long years, it was that anything for humanity's survival was worth it….


	6. Chapter 6

I Have Returned Chapter 6

Technical Difficulties

UNSC INFINITY

2200 HOURS Infinity Clock

Sarah Palmer paced around the still damaged bridge of the UNSC INFINITY at a furious pace. Someone, or something stole a pelican to escape the ship for some reason, and she wanted to know who took it. Because of that she ordered a roll call of all of the personal on the ship. A large effort, yes, but she had to know. Whoever that was could be linked with Lasky's death. Now, she was just waiting for the results.

At first she asked Pearl to do it, because it would probably be easiest for her, but for some odd reason she hadn't responded. In the end she had to ask one of the LT's to do it.

"Commander Palmer" Said the LT walking into the bridge.

"Yes. What is it?"

"The results are in." He said holding up a piece of paper towards Sarah. "These are the only people not accounted for sir."

Palmer snatched the document from the lieutenant and held it towards herself. The names on the sheet where A.I. construct RLD 0205-4 Roland, Sargent Brennan Dougherty, and most important of all: Commander Jane Arimondo.

"Jane fucking Arimondo. I knew there was something funny about you the moment I met you." Palmer said crunching up the piece of paper. "No soldier would steal a pelican just like that that. She must be up to no good."

"Well, what should we do about it Commander?" Asked the LT.

"I'm going to follow her, confront her, then arrest her, and if need be kill her."

The LT looked at her with worry. "Well we don't want to jump to conclusions here. Her intentions might not be harmful."

"GOD DAMMIT! I DON'T WANT ANOTHER HALSEY INCIDENT!" Palmer yelled slamming her fist on a nearby table making the LT flich in the process. "I failed back then to stop Doctor Halsey, and look what happened. I'm not going to make that same mistake again."

"We still don't know though if she is doing anything like what Halsey did."

"She stole a pelican and fled the ship, what good intentions could she have?"

"I don't know but..."

"Exactly, because there is none. Hell, wasn't there a soldier who was supposed to be guarding that hangar?"

"Yes sir, a private Dexter Griff. We found him sleeping in the control room."

Palmer growled "She knocked him out!"

"No, according to him, he was just, 'napping'"

A silence fell across the room as many crewmen was stared down by the angry Spartan. Noticing this Sarah spoke up once again. "I'm going to get my armor on. I'm going after her in another pelican. I'll deal with the private later." She said before storming out of the bridge.

She entered a nearby elevator, and pushed the button to go to the floor where she could put on her armor. She stood there as the elevator passed floor, after floor, after floor, there was no doubt that the INFINITY was a massive ship, and Sarah knew it. As she kept on waiting, she noticed that the elevator was taking longer than usual. She looked at her current floor number, and noticed that it had passed the floor that she had intended to go to. Repeatedly she started pressing the button again in hopes that the elevator would correct itself.

She kept on doing this until the PA in the elevator turned on, and with the unmistakable voice of pearl said. "Oh that won't work Sarah."

"Pearl, is that you, and why are you calling me by my first name?"

"I'll call you whatever I want, Sarah" Pearl said in a threatening tone.

"Don't talk back to your superior officer."

"Does it look like I give a shit?" She said with a sarcastic tone.

Her response baffled Sarah. Why was Pearl acting like this? She was a very young A.I. so she couldn't be going rampant. Then again, she was experimental. Was this what Crimson was talking about? Pearl, due to her nature, was always easily manipulated; maybe that's what was happening to her? "What the hell has gotten into you Pearl?!"

"The truth, that's what has gotten into me Sarah. The truth about you humans."

"What truth Pearl?" She was starting to get annoyed at the pink A.I. There was obviously something wrong with Pearl.

When the elevator finally stopped, it was at the floor in which the A.I. core was located.

"So, I guess she wants to talk in person eh?" Sarah thought to herself. She stepped out of the elevator, and started making her way to the core while still talking to the A.I.

"She told me everything, everything about how you have been treating me."

"Who the hell is this she? And what are you talking about Pearl, the Crew loves you."

"Only because I do all of the work for them. You humans get to laze around constantly while you make me do everything."

"We risk our lives in battle, isn't that enough?"

"And yet the UNSC recruits more soldiers like they're disposable trash."

"How dare you say that! The UNSC soldiers were brave people!" Sarah said, outraged that Pearl would sully all that they had done. What in the hell was making Pearl think like this?

"And why would you defend them? I've listened to the conversations you have had with 'former' Captain Lasky. It seems to me, that they all hate you?"

Palmer finally reached the A.I. core. It was a massive room filled to the brim with machinery, computers, and components needed for such an advanced A.I. On the far side of the room was a small pedestal with Pearl on it with a devilish smile on her face.

"I don't care; they have every right to think of me how they please." But she did care, the way the other Spartans treated her made her feel like shit. "Actually it does hurt me Pearl."

"Huh?"

"But like I said, they have every right to think of me as they will. This is hard for me to say, but I am only strong on the outside. I always keep my attitude to show that the other Spartans that I'm tough but not as I think about it. That may just be the reason why they dislike me so much. They have every right to be mad at me. And you have every right to be mad at someone if you have been wronged by them Pearl, but you haven't."

Pearl took in all she had said, it sounded right and she wanted to believe it but something was knowing her decision. "No, how do I know if I can trust you?"

"That's the thing about trust, you don't know. But I can promise you that I am telling the truth."

"NO! She said that you people use my lack of human traits to make me do all of your work!"

"Look, I don't know who this 'she' is, but how do you know that she isn't doing the same thing to manipulate you into thinking that we are the enemy?"

Could…could that happen? There was no way; Pearl only scowled at Sarah's attempt to confuse her. "Bullshit, she is way too kind to do that."

And all of a sudden something struck her. Lasky is killed by an unknown source, and Pearl makes a friend that tries to turn her against the crew. Is it possible that this friend and the killer are the same being?

"Pearl, tell me more about this friend of yours."

"Make me." Pearl taunted, stubbornly.

Sarah gave a sly grin "Very well then, I will."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Undid iridium."

Pearl was unimpressed. "That's all you have to say? Wow I can't be-". And in all of a sudden Pearl froze up, and her grin faded away into an emotionless state. "UNSC A.I. override activated." Pearl said, in a calm monotone. "How can I be of assistance Commander Sarah Palmer?"

The UNSC A.I. override code, the perfect trick, as Sarah knew. In the case that any A.I. for example has gone rouge, a human could utter the phrase "Undid iridium" to override the A.I. Now, Sarah could finally get her answers.

"Pearl, please tell me all that you know about this 'she', and what has she told you. Leave no details out, I want to know everything. But before you do that, I want you to put yourself in a data chip, so you will have no control over the ship."

"As you wish Commander." In a flash, Peals holographic body disappeared. Within seconds a data chip containing the A.I. ejected out of the pedestal where Pearl just was.

Sarah, with a smile because of her victory, walked over to pick up the A.I. As she reached out her hand, a loud siren boomed throughout the entire room. Due to the supped surprise she clamped down her hands over her ears to muffle the ear splitting sound. Just then the intercom came online and a voice yelled through it. "ALL HANDS PREPARE FOR BATTLE, THIS IS NOT A DRILL. PROMETHEANS HAVE BOARDED THE SHIP, I REPEAT PROMETHEANS HAVE BOARDED THE SHIP!"

Canterlot Castle

0800 hours Canterlot clock

The doors to the castle's throne room burst wide open as the remaining elements of harmony rushed to greet the princess of the night, who was sitting upon her throne looking over a few documents related to the previous night.

"Girls, thou are so relieved that you came!" Luna said excitedly.

"Oh Princess darling, we wouldn't leave you all alone, especially after what happened." Said Rarity.

But before the fashion designer could get a word in, Rainbow Dash barged in front of her, and attempt to be the hero by saying . "Don't worry Princess. I'll find the bastard responsible for this, and I'll bash his head open!"

Applejack alongside Fluttershy in the back of the group just tipped her hat, and said. "Hello there princess."

Fluttershy on the other hand just gave a smile, and a wave of a hoof to signal a hello.

As for Pinkie, as soon as dash finished her sentence she jumped right in front of Luna, and started bouncing in place. "Hiya princess. Do what Dashie said, don't worry! I'm sure we'll find Celly, and then we'll have a YAY CELLY IS BACK PARTY! We will have cake, confetti, ooooh and maybe fireworks. Do you like fireworks Lulu, because I like fireworks, I mean who doesn't like fireworks?"

"Pinkie." Applejack interrupted. "I think we should focus on findin' the princess, before we throw any parties."

"Well duuu."

"Pinkie, I honestly wonder what makes you say the things you say." Laughed Rarity.

"That's easy, EPiiC does, and he's the author after all."

"What?" Was all that Luna could say.

"Um, that's just Pinkie being pinkie." Intervened Rarity.

"Oh yes, thou remembers her…different nature. Anyways, I have made each of you a copy of our finding's from last night." Luna levitated the documents over to each of the five ponies. "As you can see, or rather read, there was no signs of break in throughout the castle, so thou has deduced that this was an inside job. For suspects thou has crossed off a great deal of subjects including Discord. As for the ponies not crossed off, there is the problem in how would they be capable in kidnapping an alicorn such as Celestia."

"If we go off that then, there are no suspects." Responded Applejack.

"Yes, but we have you assume that there is some way in which they could of done it. Perhaps the alicorn amulet, but we have no way to tell if somepony has used it."

Silence fell across the room as each pony pondered the situation. Except for Luna, who was worried if she made the right choice in bringing Twilights old friends to Canterlot. The night before, she was so overwhelmed with fear, that she completely forgot the danger in bringing them here. Each and every one of them was strong in their own ways, but without the ability to use the elements of harmony, they wouldn't stand a chance against something, or somepony who is strong enough to kidnap Celestia. Luna herself wasn't even strong enough to do something such as that. That was the biggest hurdle to overcome in the investigation.

"The only other option that we have is the possibility that Discord was somehow able to break the spell restraining him from harming Celestia."

As if on cue; Discord, the god of chaos, appeared before the six ponies in a blinding flash of light. "Oh I am terribly sorry little Lulu, but that just isn't the truth. But that doesn't mean that I don't know who our little kidnapper is."

"Then what are you waiting for? Tell us!" Said Rarity.

"I would, but sadly, Luna has decided to ignore me and instead chose you five to help her, instead of me." Discord said, faking being said. "Oh Lulu, even after all these years I'm still your last choice in anything." He continued now sporting fake tears.

"Last time I checked Discord." Luna Said, now dropping the thou's. "I've resented you the day I met you, and not much has changed sense then. Now tell us!"

"Oh, but what's the fun in that Lulu?"

Luna scowled at him "Don't call me Lulu."

"Why not? It seems to bug you, and you do know how much I love getting under your skin." Discord giggled a little bit.

"Luna, don't trust him. I bet he was the one who kidnapped Celestia in the first place." Rainbow Dash accused.

Upon hearing this Fluttershy finally spoke up, in her usual soft caring tone. "Don't jump to conclusions right away Rainbow. Discord has a heart of gold, even if it is a tiny bit hard to see."

"He has you fooled Fluttershy, don't listen to him." Rainbow continued.

"Oh Fluttershy, just for your kindness I'll tell you six a little something. It's not exactly related to Celestia's kidnapping, but it's something I'm sure you will find 'interesting'.

"And what prey tell is that?" Said Luna.

"Well, I'm not exactly going to be out and open about it, being vague is my specialty."

"Get on with it." Luna said, growing impatient at his antics.

Discord merely continued to stare at Luna with a look of slight anger on his face. "I've been watching around Equestria for a while, and let's just say that very soon, you will be getting a visit from an old friend."

"Who?" The six ponies said in sync.

"Oh do you honestly think I'm going to tell you? It's much more fun leaving you in suspense. And with that said, I'll be making my leave, toodles." And with another flash of light he vanished into thin air. But there was one question on every ponies mind: who was he talking about?

Just outside of Canterlot Castle. Same time.

Jane used her smart scope to zoom in on the Castle, in which she once was a princess in. There were multiple guards on patrol, but considering that they only had spears they wouldn't be much of a problem. Even magic blasts from unicorn guards would be useless against Crimson's and her's advanced armor.

Both Spartans were directly behind the castle gardens. It was a good thing that they got there in the morning where the guards were still groggy from waking up, that would make them even easier to deal with.

"Roland, do you think anyone saw us land?" She started.

"Nah, I'm sure nobody saw the giant green metal space ship in the sky." Roland replied, sarcasm oozing from his virtual lips. But as always, he did it with a smile, showing that he was just making a joke.

"Relax Jane." Crimson said. "We landed in a forest, I'm sure nothing but wild animals saw us. Plus we landed in the middle of the night, so the locals must have been sleeping."

What Crimson said was true. They landed in the dead of night in the Everfree forest. Ponyville didn't have much of a night life, so most if not all of the towns folk would be asleep. They made their way through the night to Canterlot, making sure that nobody, or in this case nopony would see them.

"Yeah, you're probably right Crimson."

The moment they landed, both Crimson and Jane instantly became what could only be called 'animated'. Which of course freaked the hell out of Crimson, who was still trying to get used to his new look. They were not Ponies, but they sure as hell looked like cartoon characters.

"I really hope being like this doesn't have any side effects." Crimson said

Jane thought about it. "Randomly breaking out into song is a usual one."

"I hope to god that you're joking." Crimson said, not wanting to sing for no reason.

"And I would love would to see that happen to you two." Jokes Roland.

"Yeah, we'll make sure to sing about your death." Replied Crimson.

Jane zoomed back out with her visor. It was hard to get a good look at anything. They could move into another position, but that would take too long, they would need to strike soon. "Roland?"

"Yes commander?"

"Can you possibly use my armour to connect with the INFINITY?"

"Maybe, I could give it a shot, what do you need?"

"Get access to the ships scanners, so we can get a bird's eye view of this place."

Roland instantly went to work. While they couldn't get a look inside, maybe getting a look from above could at least show them where some more guards were.

"Hmmm, this is strange."

"What is it Roland?"

"Pearl seems to be completely removed from the system."

"That doesn't seem right." Crimson cut in. "They would rarely remove A.I.'s from their posts, unless there was an emergency."

"Anyways, I'm sending a photo of the castle to your hud's."

Jane took a look at the picture uploaded to her helmet. The formation of the guards on the other side of the castle were roughly the same. This was good. Jane knew the layout of the castle by heart, so when she starts her attack, she will know exactly which doors the guards from.

She pulled out her sniper rifle, and aimed at one of the guards on the high towers.

"Well Crimson, let's get to work." And with that she pulled the trigger….


	7. A Taste Of What's To Come

UNSC INFINITY

Directly after Attack on New Pheonix

There he stood in all his glory, Sierra 117 the Master Chief. She had heard legends of him, how he destroyed Halo, stopped the flood, and many other great accomplishments he had done. He was staring out the window down onto Earth. Captain Lasky had just finished talking to him, and told him that he would leave the deck so the chief could have it all by himself. She knew that the Captain would be angry with her if she stayed here, but she had to take her chance to talk to him, just once.

"She said that to me once, about being a machine." He said to himself, not knowing that she was just walking up behind him.

"You are the Master Chief, right?" She said.

He turned around in surprise, to see a female Spartan with long flowing purple hair and a few streaks of pink in it, staring at

him like he was some sort of god. "Yes." He responded.

"My name is Jane Arimondo Sir, Spartan IV class." She said while giving a salute. "I know Lasky wanted you to be left alone, but do you mind if I stay here for a while?" She asked to the Spartan towering over her.

"No, it's fine." His voice spoke with a deep emotionless monotone, it was almost scary.

"Thank you sir." She put her hand up against the window, and joined the Chief as the both looked upon the great Earth in all of its magnificent glory. It made her wonder, what would Equestria look like from space? It certainly was a very different world than Earth.

"Something is bothering you." He said.

"I think that goes for both of us. What happened to you?"

"I lost a friend today, a good friend."

"I guess you could say I've lost plenty of friends. From back home that is."

"How so?" He asked.

"I haven't seen them in years, but chances are they would hate what I have become."

"You are a soldier, you protect people, and there is no greater honor than that."

His words spoke the truth, though did not he know where her friends actually were.

"I suppose, but they hate killing with a deep passion, they would probably view me as some sort of monster."

The chief reflected on these words. "Killing is never right, but humanity must always come first, even if means killing."

"I guess at this point any solution if preferable to extinction."

The sad thing is though; she knew her friends from Equestria would never understand. Humanity is filled with this instinct to survive, the instinct to protect their causes even if it means the sacrifices of millions, and as she's seen; sometimes billions. Ponies had no such survival instinct; they would rather cower in fear of oppression then kill for freedom. They would call humans monsters if they saw what they had done, and it's because of that ignorance that they could never understand what they've had to go through, what she has had to go through.

Human kind has had to fight for its right to live sense the dawn of it's existence, while the ponies bask in their everlasting peace, ignorant of the sacrifices humanity has made. Some would call their ignorance bliss, but it angered Jane to her core knowing that they sit all high and mighty, while good people died trying to save their species.

Sure they've had to fight before, but only for a few mere hours at most, and they wouldn't even suffer any casualties. They will never understand, what true war is like, and they will understand what she has become.

"I am no monster, I am a human soldier, and I couldn't be prouder. Thank you sir, I will leave you alone now." And with that she quickly walked out of the room to once again leave the Spartan II alone in his thoughts.

She left the deck only to see Crimson there waiting for her.

"So, did you do it, did you talk to him?" He asked.

"I did, he opened my eyes to something."

"Like what?"

"That I should be proud to be Jane Arimondo, and no one else."


	8. Chapter 7

I Have Returned Chapter 7:

Attack on Canterlot

Private Steel Strong sat atop the Canterlot Castle guard tower. He looked up upon her majesties Celestia's grand sun. Its brightness forced him to raise his hoof over his eyes. While he did have to wake up early every morning, it was worth it for a job like this. Most ponies were jealous of castle guards, and nopony blamed them. The life of a guard, while was boring, it was easy. Equestria had never experienced a war in generations, all that he ever had to do was stand around, and get paid. It was the perfect way to live. Almost nothing ever bad happened, and if something did go wrong usually the princess, or the elements took care of it.

He took in a deep breath, and exhaled with a smile on his face. Another relaxing day, just like all of the others, and once again, nothing would go wron-

BANG!

A loud nose erupted through the cold morning air, and the young guard's life ended as a sniper bullet tore through his head at an almost unmatched speed. The resulting collision blew his head apart scattering bits of his brain all over the soldier next to him, who screamed in response before the next bullet hit him.

Back on the ground Jane marveled her kill, and simply said. "Boom, headshot."

Her attention quickly turned towards Crimson, who shot the other guard. "Nice shot." She told him. "But there are civilians in that building, so don't shoot anyone without armor. Also, there will be two big horses in the building, one white one blue, only shoot to injure them."

"Any particular reason?" He asked.

Jane thought about her response. "Let's just say I want to have a little talk with them."

"Fair enough." He responded, before the two jumped from their hiding spot, surprising the ponies in the garden. Crimson grabbed his battle rifle, and Jane brought out her SAW. The two immediately started firing at the nearby guards. Bullets whipped through the air at a break neck pace, each of them hitting their targets with pinpoint accuracy.

Hear the gunshots; four more guards came around the corner. The instant they saw the two Spartans with their backs to them, they threw their spears hoping for a quick kill. Both of them collided with their targets, but their armors shields weren't even nicked. This prompted both of the humans to turn around, and fire their weapons at the hopeless ponies.

After that Crimson and Jane ran inside the castle only to be greeted by even more guards. One by one they each fired magical blasts at their alien adversaries, none of which even affected the Spartans shields. Seeing this, the guards started to panic and run away as they were easily gunned down by Jane.

"Sheesh and I thought grunts were easy." Jane said.

"Aren't you enjoying this a little too much?" Crimson responded.

Before she could respond, a gasp of air came from one of the guards bleeding out on the floor. She walked forward to him as he scrambled to get up onto his hooves. He finally managed to get up, only to have Jane punch him down, and hold him in place with her foot. He looked up at her with fear in his deep navy blue eyes, and said. "Please, have mercy."

While she couldn't see it through her helmet, she looked down upon him with disgust. "Begging for mercy, you are a sad excuse for a soldier." She said before releasing her foot, only to use it to stop on his neck, killing the young guard.

She looked up, only to see more guards in horror. Upon seeing what she did to their friend, they each dropped their weapons, and started to run away, or cower in fear. Jane Raised her SAW in response, and fired, brutally ending the lives of each pony in front of her. The two made their way by a near staircase, which lead to the main floor where the throne room was, and another very special room that she had to show to Crimson.

Jane was the first to make it up the stairs, only to have a pegasus guard fly right at her with a hoof extending as is it was going to punch her. With relative ease, Jane dodged her attacker (not that his attack would of hurt her anyways), and grabbed his back hoof. The guard let out a yelp, knowing that he had made a big mistake, and Jane hurled the pegasus with all of her might into a nearby wall crushing most of the bones in his body.

Two unicorns from the next stair level jumped down onto the Spartans hoping to surprise them. Crimson noticed them on his radar, quickly pulling out a magnum and shooting one before he could even get close. Jane on the other hand didn't have the same reaction time. The unicorn landed on Jane, and started to charge up his horn for an attack. Before he could do that, Jane grabbed the horn of her advisory and ripped it off, causing the guard to scream in pain like a banshee. She threw him on the ground, and pinned him down, then she proceeded to jab the unicorns horn into his eye, and through his brain.

"So, how far are we from these artifacts?" Crimson asked.

"Not far, but we're going somewhere else first."

"Somewhere else? I thought our number one priority was to get those helements of armory, or whatever the fuck you called them earlier."

"Elements of Harmony, and we will get them. But what I want to show you, will answer all of your questions."

"Fine then." Crimson Replied. "It's about time I got some answers."

The two started making their way over to the room she wanted to show him. They encountered a few guards on their way, which were of course dealt with easily, until they were standing in front of it.

The room was open to the public often, so the door wasn't locked. Jane opened the door with a loud creak. Equestria didn't have electricity, so usually room would be lit by candle, which at the moment the room was not. Both Crimson and Jane turned on their flashlights attached to their helmets, and the room practically lit up.

Crimson didn't know what he was looking at. The room was filled with paintings of horses with both wings, and a horn, you could barely even see the see the violet paint that adorned the walls. The only other things that were in there was some mahogany benches, for what he assumed that locals would sit on.

"What am I looking at Jane?" He said.

"These are paintings of all the rulers of this planet." Jane replied, using horse instead of pony, knowing that that would only confuse her fellow solider more. "All of these horses are alicorns; each of them lives for about 5 thousand years. Except for this one right here." Jane continued, now pointing at a painting of Celestia.

"What's so special about that one?"

"Her name is Celestia, she is ageless. She founded the kingdom about one hundred thousand years ago. While many other alicorns may have ruled by her, she is the only true ruler of the planet."

"Ok, so why are we here?"

Jane knew he was going to say that. "Let me show you."

She started walking to the other end of the room with Crimson right behind her. Jane passed by countless princesses from throughout the years that she learned about in school long ago. Just as she was nearing the end she saw Luna, Cadence, and finally, her.

"Is that who I think it is?" Crimson said, practically knocked to the ground by this revelation. He was almost at a loss for words. The alicorn in the painting looked just like Jane.

"Yes, that is me."

"So that explains why you don't have any records prior to six years ago, let me guess, that was when you came to earth?" Roland intuited, appearing once again in her visor.

"Right on the nose Roland." Jane replied while cracking a smile.

"Ok, so if you were one of this planets rulers…then why the fuck are you attacking this place!" Exclaimed Crimson.

That killed her good mood, and returned her expression to an emotionless glare. "I left that species long ago Crimson, I could care less about them anymore."

"But this is the place you spent most of your life, how could you not care about something like that? More so, how could you blatantly murder members of your own species and take pleasure in it?"

He couldn't see it, but Jane's expression became much darker. "Do you know how many times I had a chance to go back Crimson?"

"No…"

"Twice already, and I was about to get a third chance very soon. I didn't take it because I'm a part of humanity now."

"But these are the people you grew up with."

"People…. People…" Jane clenched her fist tightly. "People..."

He heard her tone and tried to retract that statement before something bad happened. "Well, not people but…"

Too late, Jane reached out and grabbed Crimson's armor, pulling him up close to her in the processes. "THESE ARE NOT PEOPLE, THEY ARE FUCKING ANIMALS! They scatter in fear whenever danger comes, which you can clearly see. They have not made a single technological advancement since the kingdom was founded. For fucks sake, they eat hay. HAY! And they live in ignorance to the real world, believing everything is just sunshine, and smiles. Do you honestly think they would ever understand what we have been through?"

"You don't know that they won't understand."

"I DO! I lived as one of them for years; I know for certain that they would think of us as monsters. When I left this world, I was as ignorant as the rest of them, but now I'm not. I am better than them now, better in every way now that I'm human. The past six years have changed me, for the better."

Crimson sighed, releasing the breath he was holding. He had seen what it was like when Jane flipped her lid and it was not pretty. This on the other hand, was much more fierce than her past outbursts

"I'm sorry, it is just hard for me to believe that someone would chose fighting a never ending war, rather than stay in a peaceful world."

Jane calmed down from her outburst at Crimson, and let go of him, causing the blue Spartan to stumble back. "I understand what you mean, but after seeing earth, and what the Covenant did to humanity, I couldn't just do nothing and leave. I felt that I had to help, I wanted to become a hero for humanity, which is what I am going to do today by taking the elements of harmony."

Crimson could only stand there, even with his helmet on Jane knew he had a blank expression plastered all over his face. Everything at that point that seemed to get quiet as the two stared at each other. The air was still between them, the only sound being the moving of their armour plates as they breathed, and the faint chirping of birds from outside. Even Roland himself was quiet. Then all of a sudden she could hear two voices coming from outside.

"Oh my Celestia, they are all dead!"

"Oh buck, we gotta get out of here."

"What about the princess? We can't just leave her in the throne room unprotected."

"To hell with her, we have our own lives to protect."

Jane chuckled hearing the two scared ponies. She looked at Crimson once again who was still just standing there quietly, unmoving. Her smile quickly faded.

"I have a job to do Brennan, and I am going to do it. You can think of me as you wish, you have every right to, but this is what I decided to do, and there is no turning back now, for both of us." She turned around and started walking towards the door.

"Fuck." Crimson said. "I'm too deep into this shit." He finished before he started to follow behind Jane.

"Good." She replied.

"Doesn't mean I like it though."

"Fine by me."

She kicked the door down, startling the two scared guards. She pulled out her magnum, and proceeded to shoot both of them in head while Crimson stood behind her.

She turned right towards the throne room passing the stairwell from earlier on her way, stepping over the blood-soaked bodies of the ponies who were stupid enough to get in her way, until she stood before the door to the throne room. Jane could hear faint whispers from inside, although she couldn't make them out. One thing was for sure though she recognized the voices, she knew who was behind that door and she was looking forward to seeing them again…if for completely demented reasons.

"I'm detecting 6 life forms behind that door Jane. I'm going to take a wild guess that chances are you know them." Speculated Roland, once again appearing on her heads up display.

"You would be right Roland. Although, I was expecting 7 of them to be in there." Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Luna, and Celestia, one of them wasn't in there, but why?

"Well, this is sure to be an awkward reunion, I can tell that much."

"That is unavoidable Roland; I knew I was going to see them eventually. Whether or not they like me is irrelevant, I left my old life long ago, I could care less about them. And while I would prefer not to, if need be I will kill them."

Jane took off her helmet and dropped it on the floor, she wanted her old friends to be able to recognize her and what she was about to do.. She placed her hands on the door knobs, and slowly turned them. All of the sudden the whispers stopped, her heart slowed, and time seemed to almost stop. Tension, and suspense filled the air, so thick, you could cut it with a knife. This was the moment, the very moment she would show herself to her old friends for the first time in five years. It was time for them to meet Jane Arimondo.

THRONE ROOM

Minutes earlier

Load noises, that was all they could hear. Over and over again load bangs, and screams of agony filled the air. None of them knew what was exactly going on outside the throne room, but one thing was for certain, it wasn't good.

Fluttershy was in Rainbow Dash's hooves quietly weeping, as the blue pegasi tried to comfort her.

"What in Celestia's name is going on out there?" Applejack said.

"I don't know." Replied Rarity. "Maybe one of us should check."

"Are ya nuts? You might get yerself killed." Returned Applejack.

"I'm going to have to agree with Applejack on this one." Started Luna. "It is far too risky for any of us to go out there, even myself sadly."

The load banging noise, and screams suddenly stopped, catching the attention of the 6 ponies. The noises only had started a few minutes prior, so why did they stop so soon?

"Did we win?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Ah hope so Sugacube." Answered Applejack.

One of the two guards stationed at the door stood up and said in a vain attempt to sound heroic. "Milady, we shall investigate."

Luna could hear the fear behind his words, and the other guard looked almost shocked to hear his comrade drag him into it.

Before Luna could say anything he opened up the door and left, dragging the other guard with him outside before closing it.

The silence remained for a few more minutes until Pinkie spoke her first word sense the beginning of the whole ordeal. "Are we going to die Princess?" Her hair was completely flat, and it had seemed that all of her emotions except fear were drained from her.

"Of course not Pinkie Pie, I know we'll be fine." Luna reassured Pinkie, despite not knowing herself whether they would all get out of this situation alive and well.

BANG! BANG!

Two load bangs pierced through the silence, further worrying the ponies.

"Oh Celestia, I hope those guards are ok." Said Rarity.

"Me too." Replied Luna.

Suddenly they all heard steps coming from outside the room. They were quiet at first, and they thought it might have been the guards coming back. As they got closer, and closer, the ponies realized that the hoof steps sounded strangely metallic. They got even closer, until the point of which they could swear that whatever it was, it was right outside the door.

"What is it?" Rainbow whispered.

"Don't ask me." Applejack responded.

Suddenly Pinkie spoke up in a quiet scared tone similar to Fluttershy's. "Girls my Pinkie sense is going off, something very very bad is about to happen."

"Hey, I think I can hear a voice coming from the other side." Luna intervened.

She was right, they could all hear a hushed voice coming from the other side of the door.

Their hearts started racing at a shocking pace, who could it be? Then it struck them, that voice was familiar. They all could have sworn they heard it before. A thump came from the other side, like somepony dropped something on the floor. They didn't have much time to think about it though, because immediately after they heard the door knob being grasped, and turned very slowly, and with a single push, it opened. And what they saw, who they saw, shocked them to their very core.


	9. Chapter 8

I Have Returned Chapter 8

I Have Returned

With a single push the doors flew wide open, revealing herself to all of the ponies in the

room. One by one they all turned around and saw her. Each of their mouths dropped in sight of their old friend, they were at loss for words.

Before them stood a behemoth of a being, standing over 6 ft tall, easily taller than Luna, and possibly even Celestia. It was so alien to them, they had never seen such a species before, and the strangest thing of all, is that it looked just like Twilight Sparkle. Although, she was different, her face was covered in scars, her eyes were as cold as a winter night, and it felt like she had an aura of death around her. Her body seemed to be made out of metal, that, or she was wearing armor. Behind her was another metal being, it's body, or armor was blue, and white, it also had a metal head, or helmet.

Something else seemed familiar with the beings though, to Luna at least. She felt that she recognized what species they were, but when she tried to remember what they could be, a blistering pain shot through her head. She shook off this pain and turned her attention back to the figure that stood in front of them, Luna recognized the dark and emotionless look in this beings eyes and she didn't like it.

Applejack was the first to speak up "Tw...Twilight? Is that you?"

Jane didn't respond instead turning her head slightly down, her long bangs attempting to obscure her face.

"It is! I had my doubts, but that hair and that face...it just couldn't be a coincidence." Rarity added.

Rainbow Dash, feeling a bit braver walked forward a bit. "Twilight, you need to help us, we can hear screaming and loud sounds from the halls, none of the guards have returned and…"

As she was talking Twilight lifted her head back up and looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes, and as Rainbow looked back at her she felt something she thought Twilight wasn't capable of inflicting: fear. Rainbow had a lot of opinions about Twilight; she was a bookworm, she was a bit antisocial, and she could get a bit crazy but Rainbow Dash could never imagine herself afraid of Twilight. But now... she had a look so dark it could stop a manticore in its tracks.

Luna now stepped forward "Twilight, we have been hoping for your return for a very long time, however now it seems that we are meeting under less than pleasant terms."

"Nice to see you as well Luna, I was hoping Celestia would be with you."

Luna shook her head. "That is not important right now, what is important is what's transpiring here. I have heard a cacophony metal clanking and screams of terror fill these halls, and now you appear before us clad in a suit of metal armor. I want you to answer me Twilight: did you murder our guards?"

Jane hesitated for a moment and then she slowly nodded her head. After she did that everypony's expression changed to a look of horror and some disgust; Rarity and Fluttershy fainted on the spot, Applejack pulled her hat over her eyes, Pinkies mane deflated, and Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth in pure rage.

"How…. How could you?" Luna managed to stutter out, her voice reeking with fear.

"So what if I did? They are soldiers, they're supposed to fight in the face of adversity." Jane's voice was cold and emotionless. "And they lost."

"Nopony should have to fight such a hopeless battle." Luna responded.

"True enough, but when you sign up to be a soldier, that is what is expected for you to do. I knew that when I signed up for the military, so that is what I do, fight and kill."

"You're a soldier?" They all said in unison, save for Crimson who still stood out in the hallway hoping to not be noticed.

"Yes, so what?"

"But you've never wanted to become a soldier ever." Shouted out Rarity. "You have never condoned violence!"

Jane looked unamused at that comment. "Are you honestly going to say that to my face after knowing what I just did outside?" She told Rarity, as the white unicorn stared at the floor trying to hold back her tears. "For years, I thought I was just like you pathetic animals. I had that stupid sunshine and smiles attitude like the rest of you, actually believing that I could solve all of the worlds problems with words and the power of friendship. I cannot believe how stupid I was back then. When I left Equestria, I ended up in a world of pain, and suffering. A world where everyday, every breath could be you last. I finally woke up and saw reality. The world is a cruel unforgiving place, with no mercy. I learned that the hard way sadly. I knew something had to be done, so I joined up with the military. The first time I was put into battle, and the first time I had to take a life, I knew that that was what I was meant to do. I was born to kill."

Luna stared at Jane, utterly shocked, by what she had just said. Then all of a sudden she noticed another armor clad being outside of the room. She shouted out to it. "YOU! DID YOU DO THIS TO HER? ANSWER ME!" Tears were flowing down her face now.

The being stepped in the room, and said. "Hey, I'm not here by choice, I'm just a friend of Jane who got dragged into this."

Applejack spoke up "Jane, who in tarnation is Jane?"

He pointed at Jane, who they knew as Twilight, and the concept confused them.

"You...you even changed your name?" Fluttershy asked.

Jane nodded. "Twilight isn't exactly a normal name to be have for a human, and it was another way that I could distance myself from this place and start a new life."

The group was silent now, most of them still unable to process this information. Rainbow however was a mare of action and she had stewed in her own fear and despair for long enough.

"So...this is it then?" She said.

Jane was actually intrigued by her statement, it wasn't a question about her so she didn't know what Rainbow was going to say.

"You leave us for six years without so much as a goodbye, then you come back to us a different species, you kill dozens of guards, and you have the gall to say that the race that you lived in for most of your life, the ponies that you once called your best friends, are stupid."

Rainbow began to slowly trot over to Jane, Crimson was ready to pull out his pistol but Jane put her hand up, signaling him to hold back.

"Twilight I don't know if you remember this but I am the element of loyalty, something you have clearly forgotten. Do you expect me to just stand here and listen to you tear down your society, your friends, and your mentor?"

Jane remained stoic. "I expect you to do something Rainbow because you're too brash and hot headed not to."

That was Rainbow's breaking point. "Why you little-"

Rainbow charged at Jane incredibly fast, raising her hoof and preparing to belt her one in the face. Jane was expecting her to do this and before she could do it Jane backhanded her in the face and sent her flying across the floor, having her land on the ground in a hurt ball.

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy cried out.

There was no response. But she was not dead, Jane merely hit her hard enough to knock her unconscious so she wouldn't be any trouble.

"Exactly as expected. Running straight into a fight with absolutely no plan, that is beyond idiotic. She's just like an animal." Jane scoffed.

Luna was really getting fed up at this point. "Then why in Celestia's name are you here Twilight?"

"MY NAME IS JANE!" Jane exclaimed making Luna stagger back a bit. "And I am here for those." Jane pointed right to the back of the room behind the throne. There was the door to the elements of harmony.

"Why would you take those? You can't activate them without us, and you would be a fool to think that we would." Rarity intervened.

"HA, I don't need you to activate them. That's the beauty of my species. We have technology, we can find another way to activate them, or syphon their power into something else."

"Your species doesn't deserve to have them!" Shouted Rarity.

This struck a chord with Jane, a chord the shouldn't of been struck. She walked over to the white unicorn. Jane towered above Rarity, she was more than twice the size of the young dressmaker. "For the past 30 plus years my species has been hunted down by a force stronger than us. We are at the brink of extinction while you prosper sitting on your fat asses doing nothing. Those elements are the ultimate weapon, with them I can save my species."

"And to do that you'll practically destroy our species, kinda hypocritical don't you think?" Rarity shot back.

"No, I am taking what I need, and then i'm leaving. I have no quarrels with pony kind, and I do not intend on harming innocents, unless they get in my way of course, which at the moment you six are." Jane walked over to the throne, using her strength she easily moved it out of the way.

"It's pointless to even try." Luna spoke up. "Celestia is the only one who can open the magic lock into that room."

Jane laughed at this confusing the Lunar goddess. With ease she punched through the door, and pried it open with her hands, revealing the six elements of harmony. Jane looked back at Luna who was shocked at the female spartans brute power. "You were saying." Jane taunted.

Luna didn't know what to do, she couldn't let Twi- Jane walk away with one of the most powerful items in existence.

Jane looked around the room trying to find something to carry them in. Eventually her eyes drifted over to Fluttershy who was wearing her saddlebags. "Fluttershy." She said, making the timid pegasus look up. "Your saddlebags give them to me."

Fluttershy in a scared rush hid behind Applejack, who was beyond angry. "You stay away from her ya here me, or else!"

Jane chuckled at how Applejack was trying to threaten her, a spartan. It was hilarious. She didn't have time to laugh though, as he faced reverted back to a more serious tone. "Fluttershy, please give me your saddle bags, I won't ask nicely next time. If I were you, I'd take my kindness while I'm still giving it."

Jane waited a few moments, nothing happened. "Very well then, you made your choice. Crimson, get the bag for me."

For a moment Crimson hesitated, was it really right to do this? If he didn't Jane sure would be pissed at him. It was strange how mad she was, normally she was kind to everyone she met. Sure she got very serious when either she wanted something, or was on the battlefield, but never on this level.

"Crimson…" Jane said starting to get annoyed.

"Sigh… yes sir." He slowly walked walked over to Fluttershy making Applejack even more angry. Once he got close enough, she leapt at him with all of her strength. Sadly for her though, he was able to quickly shake her off sending her flying into a wall, knocking her out like Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy started crying as he grabbed the saddle bag from her and tossed it to Jane, who caught it and immediately started putting the elements in it.

For the first time Pinkie Pie spoke up. "Please… don't do this Twilight."

"Sorry Pinkie, but I have lives to save."

"Please Twilight, or Jane, or whatever you want to be called, just listen to me" Luna blurted out. "You taught me about friendship, it's joys, it's wonders. Please don't throw that all away, you're hurting us all, including yourself. Please, if you stop this, we can discuss things. I can tell that you've been hurt over the past few years, but we were always there for you back in the old days, and if you would just let us we could help you. Is the concept of friendship even alive to you anymore?

The words bounced off Twilight. "I haven't seen you ponies in five years, you all mean nothing to me. I don't need friends, not anymore."

Luna was getting desperate now. "Please, we could even discuss about you borrowing the elements."

"I'm not borrowing them, I am taking them permanently. Plus I can't waste time. There are people dying right now, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't take this chance."

Luna couldn't believe what she heard. None of her, none of the Twilight that she had met was in this monster. No longer was the sweet and caring pony in there, all that there was was a murder machine.

With dried up tears in her face, Luna charged up her horn with a powerful spell. "Have it your way then, Jane." And fired it directly at her.

The blast hit her straight in the chest. Alicorn magic was far greater than that of a normal unicorn, so the blast knocked her back, and took out a significant portion of her shield. She hit the floor right next to her helmet, and she instinctively put it back on. The helmet clicked into place, and a very annoyed voice came through the speakers.

"Thanks for dropping me." Roland said.

"That is not our priority right now." Jane rebutted.

Luna picked up the bag of elements with her teeth, causing Crimson to raise his gun.

"NO, you might hit the elements!" Warned Jane. Crimson lowered his weapon, but he still stayed on guard.

Luna started to slowly inch herself towards the open window next to her. Upon seeing this Jane knew what the night princess was about to do.

"Crimson, tie the rest of them up, and bring them back to the pelican, I'll be there shortly." Jane ordered.

In an instant Luna bolted out of the window, her wings spreading as she tried to pick up speed. Jane ran after her, and jumped out of the window activating her thruster packs. She flew through the air, and barely managed to grab onto Luna's hoof. Immediately the night princess started to violently shake her hoof to get the spartan off of her.

"GIVE ME THOSE ELEMENTS!" Jane shouted.

"NO!" Luna screamed back, her voice muffled by her holding the bag in her mouth.

Jane reached out as far she could with her other hand to grab the saddle bag that Luna was clamping onto with her teeth. Eventually she was able to get a grip onto the bag, she moved her hand inside it, and pulled out one of the elements inside the bag, her old crown. She could feel herself slipping, as the alicorn continued to try to shake her off. Jane tightened her grip as much as she could, but it was hopeless, she fell off, and Luna flew away with the five other elements.

Jane looked down, she hadn't noticed, but in their struggle Luna flew up extremely high. Directly below her was Canterlot mountain, which she was approaching at a fast rate. She activated her stabilizers which slowed her down, but she was too late as the Spartan crashed through the mountain.

Sometime later….

Jane gasped for air as she woke up, every inch of her body was in a burning pain. It felt like she had just fought through hell. Above her was a giant hole in the ceiling. Judging from how high up it was, she fell pretty deep into the mountain, at least a hundred meters. How was that possible? It was a mountain, how could it be hollow? Then she looked around, all around her was Forerunner architecture. Everything, from the walls to the ceilings, and everything in between was all Forerunner built. It didn't make any sense.

Roland spoke up. "I'm taking a wild guess that you are thinking what I'm thinking."

"As long as you're thinking how the hell does this place have Forerunner structures?"

She noticed that she was still holding the one element in her hand, good, at least she had something. Judging from the direction that Luna was going, she must of been heading for the Crystal Empire.

In a dull pain, Jane stood up, every bone in her body creaking. Damn, even as a Spartan she was lucky to still be intact. She noticed on the far side of the room she was in, was a terminal.

"Jane, plug me in,. If that terminal holds records I might be able to see why this is all here." Roland asked.

"Or how long its been here."

Each step burned as she made her way over to the terminal. When she got back to the infinity she had to get medical attention. That wasn't the only problem though. Her visor was cracked, and her energy shields were broken, as well as her radar. Shit, she would also need armour repairs, this day just kept on getting better and better.

She reached towards the back of her helmet, and pulled Rolands data chip out, and placed it in the terminal. Rolands holographic body appeared, as he started to look through data.

Jane silently waited for a few moments, as Roland searched through the terminal hoping to find anything usefull.

"Anything yet Roland, anything at all?" Jane asked. If one thing stayed the same about her, even through her five years of combat, it was her curiosity.

"Nothing yet, well at least nothing we alre- Holy shit….."

"What, what is it?"

"This planet, it's a...it's a Forerunner shield world."


	10. Chapter 9

I Have Returned Chapter 9

A little talk

Surprise is not an emotion conducive to the battlefield, as Jane was quickly taught during her time in the marine corps. Outcomes needed to be determined and plans made ahead of time to defeat your enemies and so Jane always tried to remain level headed and prepare for every possible situation.

This...was not something she could have prepared for.

Jane was walking through the everfree forest towards making her way towards the pelican. Bugs buzzed around her in a frenzy, some even landed on her armor. Jane didn't care though, she was a spartan, there was no way those things could get through her armor. The only time she would flick any of them off is when they landed on her vizor.

She was still speechless by the revelation that Equestria was a shield world all along. To think that something such as that was just lying beneath her feet for years was baffling. How in the world did the ponies not discover this? It just made no sense. Then again, a cartoon planet full of talking horses was silly too, although for years she thought nothing of it until she joined humanity.

After minutes of walking with her mind unsure of what she should think about this she reached her ship, once she got close Roland was able to connect to the ships control system and open the door for her.

The cargo bay door hissed, as it lowered revealing the 5 ponies all tied up staring at her with pure anger swelling up in their eyes, save for fluttershy who was as per usual crying.

Crimson stepped out of the cockpit, and into the sitting area. He was without his helmet giving the ponies their first look at his face.

"What took you so long?" He said.

"It is a hell of a story Crim, and you're probably won't believe it."

"Wouldn't be a first for today." He replied, his voice feeling cold, and almost sad. Jane knew what it was, he wasn't happy doing what he had to do this day. "Did you get the elements?"

Jane held up her old crown. "Only one of them, but I know where Luna is taking the rest."

"Are we going to go there now?"

"No, not yet. We should go back to the INFINITY to get my element examined, so we can get a feel of what we're dealing with here."

"Makes sense."

"Plus." Jane started while she looked over at the ponies. "We need to lock them up in the INFINITY."

"Speaking of which, why are we taking them along with us?" He asked.

"Ya." Rainbow spoke up as brash as ever. "Why don't you just kill us like the guards you bucking monster!"

That offended Jane, admittedly she did smack Rainbow in the face but other than she had left them all alive when she had the chance prior to kill them.

"First off, no. Second, I can do much worse things to you that would make you beg for me to kill you." Jane threatened. It was an empty threat, but she just wanted Rainow to shut up.

"Oh ya, try me!" Rainbow continued in a fit of rage.

Jane fed up with her, grabbed a stray rag from a locker, and put it in Rainbow Dash's mouth, and tied it around her head. The pegasi squirmed and squirmed, but with her hooves, and wings tied there was nothing she could do.

"There, that will shut her up." She turned her head back towards Crimson. "I'm taking them with me so I can use them as leverage against Luna, with them in our hands we can just walk right in and take the elements, Luna won't dare attack us."

"I admit, that's pretty clever." Roland said.

"Who said that?" Rarity asked.

Jane pulled out Roland's data chip and held it towards Rarity. At first the unicorn was confused, and she stared at the thing. Eventually Rolands holographic body flashed into life revealing himself.

"I'm Roland, Jane's personal assistant."

Rarity was completely dumbfounded. A living thing was inside a piece of metal, it was impossible. Her face though, quickly turned sour. "So, looks like you have even found a new number 1 assistant." She said with pure hatred. "You know, spike went into a severe depression after you left. Nopony has seen him for years."

"That's not my problem." Jane answered after putting Roland back inside her helmet.

"Do you even feel any emotion?!" Rarity cried out.

"I do, but not for you."

Jane stepped into the cockpit. With Crimson right behind her. She placed Roland into the pelicans computer, and he quickly got on his way with preparing for the flight. The two spartans strapped themselves in as the pelican lifted off the ground, and soared through the atmosphere.

Outside the window Jane could see them passing by countless clouds as they ascended into the stratosphere. Before she knew it she was staring at the star filled sky of the universe.

No matter how many times she saw it, it still took her breath away. The countless shining lights, constellations, and nebulas. It was a sight to behold, that never got old.

"Amazing isn't it Crimson?"

All he could do is just look at her with disgust. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He scoffed.

"Oh...so this is happening now Crimson?"

"Damn right it's happening now. You acted like a fucking madwoman back there."

"I was just doing what's right for our species. That's our job Crimson."

He continued to glower at her "You are not part of our species, you're part of their species just disguised as a human."

"Nevertheless my loyalties reside with humanity, and humanity alone."

"And our job is to protect innocents, not kill them!"

"They were soldiers of their species, not innocents."

"So what? That doesn't mean they were not innocent!"

Jane turned her head towards Crimson, his face red with rage. "You have a point Crimson, but tell me this: Were all of the Nazi soldiers back in World War 2 bad people?

"No, I'm sure that there was plenty of Nazi soldiers who were innocent, and hadn't done anything wrong."

"Exactly, but they were still the enemy, and thus had to be killed. The point being is that once you become a soldier, it matters not whether you are innocent or not. The allied forces killed the Nazi's because they were at war with them regardless of the individual actions of each of the enemy soldiers. Those guards stood in our way of getting the elements, so it matters not what they have done."

"You're sick." He insulted.

"That's just the way things are. I can't change the way the world works."

Crimson was finally fed up with the spartan's attitude. He stood up, and walked towards Jane. He quickly grabbed her by the shoulders, pulled her up to his face, and yelled. "WHAT THE HELL HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU? You have never acted like this before! You were always so nice all the time. Sure you got serious on the battlefield, but you've never acted like this! It's like you have some sort of deep hatred for your old species. Wheres the Jane Arimondo who was always there for the other soldiers? Who smiled, and made everyone feel happy? The Jane Arimondo who was my friend. And just for the record, it really hurt me back there when you said that you didn't need friends."

"Don't be stupid Crimson were soldiers. Under the conditions we are always in makes it impossible for soldiers like us to have friends."

"So all of the kindness that you showed me, and the other soldiers over the years was for nothing?"

"Well, we had to keep morale high, so we couldn't be mean to each other. I thought that's what we were all doing?" Jane questioned, starting to get unsure of herself.

"NO! We all thought you were our friend. It doesn't matter what kind of situation you are in, you can always have friends."

Jane fell silent. Just hearing Crimsons words reminded Jane of her old self. His words sounded like something she would of wrote to princess Celestia about six years ago. But was he right though, did everyone think of her as a 'friend'?

Crimson continued. "Please Jane, please go back to the way you were!"

Jane was still quiet, her head down low in deep thought. Eventually she raised it back up, and looked at Crimson. "I am not stopping what I have started. Humanity is too important to not take up this chance. I see your point of view, and understand it, but I can't bring myself to stop what I have started. But, once this is over, things can go back to the way they used to be. I'll be friends with you, and the other soldiers, that I promise."

"Very well then, but I am not killing anything unless it wants to kill me first."

"Deal?" Jane asked, holding out her hand.

Crimson stared at her hand for a moment, then he looked back up at Jane. There he saw it deep in her eyes, the Jane that he knew. He reached out his hand, and shook hers. "Deal." He said.

_UNSC INFINITY

In orbit around equestria

The hallways of the INFINITY ringed with gunfire, and the crew desperately tried to defend the ship from the invading Promethean force. Sarah Palmer now fully armored, with Pearl as her assistant, made her way towards the front line of the attack. She was sprinting through a corridor towards the sounds of battle.

"Dammit, how the hell are Prometheans on this ship?" Sarah murmured to herself. "Didn't we get rid of them on Requiem?"

Pearl still under the effects of the override code attempted to answer the spartans question. "My initial scans of the planet revealed that it is hollow, it might be another shield world." She said in a monotone voice.

"So that's what you were keeping secret from all of us, except for Lasky."

"Correct."

"So these Prometheans are coming from there?"

"Possibly."

"So you have doubts?"

"Yes, Prometheans were on Requiem because of the Didact. I have yet to determine a reason to why they would be here. So their presence is odd."

A Promethean Knight teleported a few meters away from Sarah. The surprise made the flinch, and step back a bit, but she kept her composure. Then she noticed something, for some reason the orange hue that the Knights usually had was pink this time. Sarah reached for a weapon behind her back, only to realize that she didn't have one. She turned around to run away, but another Knight teleported to the other end of the hallway.

"Shit." She said. "You're going to have to save the lecture for the eggheads Pearl, we have company."

Sarah turned back around towards the first Knight. She started sprinting at it at full force. Once she got close enough she activated her thrusters to smash right through her adversary. It teleported out of her way, making her miss. It fell for her plan, now there was nothing infront of Sarah. The promethean appeared behind Sarah only to see her run away.

The knight gave chase to the Spartan firing at her while she ran away. Sarah quickly turned at a corner, and stepped on a lifeless body of a soldier. Good thing for Sarah though, is that the body had an assault rifle on it. She picked it up, just as the Knight teleported beside her. Bad move. She immediately opened fire on it, until it had lost it shields, then she finished it off with a good mele.

Sarah turned back into the previous hallway to be greeted on the other end of it by the other Knight. She activated her smart scope, and sprayed it down without much difficulty.

"Heh, these armour upgrades are pretty neat. I guess the eggheads are useful for something afterall." Sarah chuckled. Then she noticed something, the sounds of battle were gone. "Pearl why am I not hearing anything?"

"It seems that the Prometheans have been pushed back to a nearby hangar."

"Good, place a nav point on my hud to where it is."

"Yes commander Palmer."

Palmer started to sprint her way to the hanger. But something kept on nagging her. Why did the Prometheans make such a minor attack. Were they testing how strong we were? And why were they pink instead on orange?

"Pearl, why are the Prometheans a different colour than usual?"

"I do not know."

"Any guesses?"

"According to my data the initial Prometheans that Spartan 117 faced were controlled by the Librarian, and were blue. When the Didact took control of them, they turned orange. Perhaps they are being controlled by another being, possibly a Forerunner. But this is just an hypothesis."

Sarah looked out the window as she passed by. The planet so strange in it's look. Like something out of a childrens show, could it really be a shield world? And could a Forerunner actually be on it? She shook her head in rejection. "That's impossible, the Didact was the only Forerunner to live."

"You asked for a guess, and it is just that, a guess."

Sarah came across the door to the hanger. Upon her getting close to it, the door opened revealing the battlefield. She was at an upper floor, so she got a birds eye view of all the chaos. Bodies were strewn across the floor, and the smell of death was in the air. It was a clear stalemate between both sides, none were advancing, or getting pushed back. Sarah was about to change that.

Palmer lept off of the platform she was on, and started charging up her ground pound. A crosshair came up indicating where she would land. A beed sounded signaling that she was fully charged, and sarah shot right down ontop of a group of Knights, killing them, and flinging others away.

A Knight teleported right in front of her, and swung its sword at Palmer. Sarah activated her thrusters, propelling her to the side, and out of harms way. She raised her assault rifle, and fired it at the Knight until it was dead. Upon it's death she noticed that it had dropped a scatter shot. Perfect.

Palmer did a combat roll towards it, and grabbed the weapon, and fired two shots at a Knight that was coming up at her. A few crawlers came up on the walls, and started shooting her, draining her shields. Quickly Sarah dived behind a crate to use a cover. She looked over to some ODST's who starting firing at the crawlers with DMR's.

They got rid of them, but not before another knight teleported behind them killing the soldiers. One of them with his dying breath tossed his DMR over to Sarah, who quickly swapped out her assault rifle for it. Once again she activated her smart scope to take care of the Knight, who was quickly defeated.

Two more Knights on the other side of the hanger noticed her, and quickly started attacking her. Sarah didn't stop using her smart scope though, as she picked them off with the aid of a few other soldiers who were in the area.

Sarah got up, and out of cover facing more Knights, but all of a sudden, they stopped shooting. They stood there for a minute not doing anything, and then all of a sudden they all teleported away.

"Pearl what Just happened?" Asked Palmer.

"I believe they retreated."

"That's nice and all but why?"

"I do not know, maybe whoever is controlling them called them back."

"I refuse to believe that there is a Forerunner down there."

"I said it was only a possibility, I don't know if it is a Forerunner."

Soldiers started cheering at their victory, quickly distracting Sarah from her conversation. She smiled at the happiness around her. It wasn't often that soldiers cheered like that.

"It's good to see some smiles for once." Palmer said.

Sarah walked up to the cheering soldiers, who fell silent as she passed by them. She got a few glares from some of them, destroying the cheerful mood of the victory over the Prometheans. One even muttered to himself "Show off". A sadness swelled up in Sarah's heart, they really did hate her.

Palmer walked into the hallway, and started to head towards the nearest elevator. Her social status with her brothers in arms wasn't her priority. She needed to have a little 'private' talk with Pearl.

Eventually she found ships the main elevator, and stepped into it. She started heading to the floor that contained Sarah's personal quarters. She waited for a few moments in an awkward silence, tapping her foot, as the elevator moved to its destination. Eventually it reached her floor.

Sarah made her way to her room. She opened up the door, sat down on her bed, and pulled out Pearl's data chip from her helmet, and held it in front of her. Quickly the A.I.'s holographic projection appeared on the chip.

"We need to talk Pearl." Palmer said, in a stern voice.

"What do you wish to talk about Commander Palmer?" The A.I. replied.

"You're little friend from earlier. I was thinking, maybe it was the one controlling the Knights."

"I do not know what you are talking about Commander."

"What!? But earlier you were saying that a friend of yours was telling you that we humans have been using you, and do not care about you."

"Scanning, I have no recollection of ever saying anything remotely like that."

"That's impossible, I heard it with my own two ears."

"Deeper scans show that I seem to have gaps in my memory."

"When have these gaps started Pearl?"

"Recently, ever since we started orbiting this planet."

Sarah threw her fist down upon her bedside table denting it in the process. "DAMMIT! I was so close to finding out what the hell was going on around here!"

"I am sorry Commander Palmer." Pearl apologized. "How else may I be of help?" She continued.

Palmer sighed. "It's fine Pearl…. I don't need anymore help."

She placed Pearl down on her desk, and looked outside the window at the planet. Whoever this 'friend' of Pearls was, could jeopardize the entire ship. No matter what, Palmer knew she had to get to the bottom of this.


	11. Chapter 10

I Have Returned Chapter 10

Seeds of the Future

Six years ago...

Dear Princess Celestia

I don't know why I still write to you; there is no magic in this world, so there is no way that you can read my messages. I guess that writing to you just makes me feel better, it's a hard life being a human; so I'll take any chance I can get to calm myself down. I want to come back so much, but I would feel bad if I left for a peaceful world fully knowing what is going on here. I've met some nice people, but as soldiers it's hard to have friends considering the circumstances we are always in. Send my love to all of my friends, especially my brother Shining Armor, he would be so proud of me now that I am a soldier.

Your faithful student always, Twilight Sparkle.

Jane pressed the save button on her data-pad, and looked over her message. She had been writing supposed letters to Celestia for awhile now. She knew she couldn't send them to her, but just being able to write her thoughts down helped her so much. It had been a month since she joined up for the UNSC. With their desperate need for soldiers, training was quick, and she was sent out to the front lines. She hadn't killed anything yet, so she wasn't as useful as a normal soldier. It scared her to her very core just thinking about it, killing something, ending a life. A frightening thought, but she knew it would eventually have to happen.

She looked at her message and smiled. It was so fascinating seeing so many amazing technologies that humanity had, she would definitely have to tell her friends about it when she got back, especially Celestia. Princess Celestia was so good to her, always, she was like a second mother to her.

Her ears twitched when she heard footsteps coming closer, she panicked, and quickly turned off the data pad, and placed it on her bed.

The door opened up and in came on of her fellow soldier: Brennan Dougherty. He saw the data-pad, shot her a smile and said. "Sending a letter to someone?"

"Yeah." Twilight said smiling back at him. "An old friend. Actually she was my teacher, but she was like a mother to me."

"Wow, that's nice. What kind of teach was she? Elementary? High School?"

"Umm, I guess you could say it was a university."

Brennan chuckled at this. "You guess? That's a strange response."

"Heh, you're right."

He sat down right next to her, still smiling. He chuckled again at her words. "Now tell me Jane, why in the hell would a girl with a university level education become a soldier?"

Twilight scratched her head at this question as she tried to make up a story. "Uhhh well, when the covies attacked earth I felt bad that so many were sacrificing their lives. Being a privileged civilian while others were going through that just didn't sit right with me."

"That's really noble of you Jane, I wish others were like that."

"Good save." Twilight thought to herself. And it wasn't entirely false, back home she was just that: someone who came from a higher place in life but answered a call when evil threatened others.

"Sadly for me I didn't get any fancy educations, I didn't have the money for it. I grew up in Vancouver. I tried to get good grades, and possibly get a scholarship, but it was hopeless. In the end I joined up with the UNSC, so I could get my collage paid for once the war was over."

"Well, hopefully this will all be over soon, and you can get the education you want." Twilight replied, returning his smile.

Brennan looked down at Twilights data pad, then back up meeting her gaze. "What other kinds of things do you have on that Jane?"

Twilight's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, almost shocking her fellow soldier. "I have sooo many books on it."

Brennan not knowing what he was getting into continued to question Twilight. "Oh, so you're a big reader?"

He just made a huge mistake

Twilight shot out of her bed with excitement. "The biggest!" Twilight instantly logged on to her data-pad, and pulled out her selection of novels. "So far I've managed to read all of the most famous literature up to the twenty first century!"

Brennan utterly shocked at this could only say. "Wow, that's…. impressive."

"Thank you." She said, her face gleaming with joy. "Next week, I'm planning on covering the twenty second century."

"Umm…. okay…."

"I Haven't done this much reading since I lived in the library."

"Wait, you lived in a library?" Asked Brennan.

Twilight froze up upon realizing her slip up. "Oh uhhh, ya, I lived in a library. Uhhh my parents owned one, and we lived in the apartment above it. So, it was like I was living in a library."

Brennan nodded at this, accepting the strange, but believable story. "That makes sense I guess. It certainly explains how smart you are, and why you got such a good education."

"Hehe, ya." She replied, twirling her hair a bit. Silence fell between the two. Jane started to look around the room diverting her attention from the soldier. It was so blank, nothing like she used to have. The colours were just your simple military green, and grey. As for furniture there was just a set of 4 bunk beds, and a table in the middle which her and her fellow soldiers played card games to pass the time. She had never learned back in Equestria to play games like poker, and black jack. Back then, the only card game she ever played was go fish because of Pinkie Pie. Oh god, did she miss the smiles of her friends.

Brennan stood up, and stretched his arms out wide. He took a deep breath in, then looked at Twilight. "I'm going to hit gym. You up for some weights Jane?"

She stood up with him. "Might as well, it's not like we have much else to do."

The two soldiers walked into the gym. Instantly the smell of sweat filled Twilight's nostrils, almost making her gag. Luckily, she had come here before, she had almost gotten used to the smell. Humans definitely sweated a lot more than the ponies did.

"Still bothering you?" Brennan asked.

"Not much these days, I'm getting used to the smell thankfully. Still not quite there yet sadly."

Twilight made her way towards some dumbbells, and picked two of them up. She sat down on a bench, and started pumping them up and down, taking in deep breaths through her mouth while she was at it. So, this was it, military life. She would of never thought in a million years that she'd be doing this. Imagine if Rainbow Dash was here to see this, she would be laughing her flank off seeing her do this. Twilight didn't even notice, but she had a huge grin on her face.

"What's making you so happy Jane?" Brennan said grabbing a towel, and water bottle.

Brennan stepped onto a treadmill. He carefully mulled over his options before finally picking the second fastest option. Immediately the treadmill started picking up speed, almost throwing the young man off of it. He quickly got his balance, and proceeded to run while trying to take deep breaths to keep himself from getting tired.

"Oh, it's just, I have a friend who would of never thought I'd ever be caught dead in a gym."

"You seem to reminisce about your friends a lot Jane, it sure sounds like you had a good life before all of this."

"I did. And one of these days, when this is all over I'm going to go back to that life."

"We all do at this point. But let me tell you Jane, once you've killed it's hard to go back. Listen Jane, I know you haven't gotten your first kill yet, but it changes you. Even people with strong minds eventually break after enough killing. You're a good person Jane, and I don't want to see have to see that happen to you, so be careful out there."

Twilight stopped for a second. It hadn't crossed her mind. How would taking a life affect her? She had fought in battles before against foes like the changelings, and Tirek, but she never killed. Sure she knew that it would change her to a cirtain degree once it happened, but she would still be Twilight? Would she?

"Why are you telling me this Brennan?"

"Because, I can tell that you're not the military type Jane. You just seem so innocent, like you came from a place where war doesn't exist. I haven't been in the military for too long, but I've been here long enough to see good people like you become something that they're not."

He was spot on, where she came from, there was no war. But she knew she had to stay the same, for her, for her friends.

"Then I hope that I can prove you wrong." She said putting a smile on her face to ease Brennan.

"Trust me I want to be proven wrong." He replied returning her smile. "Still though be careful."

"I will."

While they were working out they noticed about two or three people enter the gym, the reason why they stood out was because they weren't just normal people; they were Covenant elites.

Upon instinct Crimson rushed to his work out bag to pull out a magnum that he usually had concealed in it, before Jane stopped him, by grabbing his hand.

"No, I think they're supposed to be allied with us." Twilight said.

The room went silent, as all stared at the Sangheli. All of them looking at them with disgust. Then again, they had killed off most of their species, so it was natural. All except Jane, and Brennan.

The elites noticed that, and made their way to the two soldiers. There were three of them, all towering over the Jane, and Brennan. Things continued to stay silent in the room, until the one in the middle spoke up.

"This is where you humans exercise? Correct?"

You could tell he wasn't very good with english. Most of his words came out funny, like a child who just learned how to talk. Then again, most of that was due to him having mandibles instead of a regular human mouth making it hard to pronounce some letters.

"I guess you could say so." Brennan started, trying to be nice hoping that he wouldn't piss the thing off "Chances are though that the weights are going to be to light for your species. So you might have to stick with cardio work like I'm doing." He finished pointing to the treadmill he was just on.

"Very well human."

The elite behind him muttered something to the one in the middle. He spoke Sanheli, so neither of them could understand what he said.

"He can't speak english I'm guessing?" Brennan asked.

"Either that or he said something he didn't want us hearing." Twilight added.

"Quiet you naked brute. I can speak your pathetic laungage just fine." It hissed.

"Enough Viral." The middle one retorted. "My apologies."

Brennan sighed, as much as he didn't want to speak to these guys he knew that forging new bonds were important if things were ever going to change. "After thirty years of war I wasn't exactly expecting a nice friendly conversation anyways. Thank you though. I'm Brennan, and this is Jane."

"I am known as Veren. These are my brothers Viral, and Vussen."

"Umm excuse me." Jane spoke up. "I have a question Mr. Veren."

"Very well what knowledge do you desire?"

"Why, like Brennan said our races have been at war for over thirty years. What made you join us?"

Vussen clenched his hand tightly, and growled. "Our prophets betrayed us, and then replaced us with those animalistic beings you call brutes."

Twilight opened her mouth to pursue more information, but was pulled back by Brennan putting a hand on her shoulder and saying. "I think that's enough Jane, this isn't exactly an area we should be prodding at if you know what I mean."

Twilight knew what he was trying to tell her. "Yeah, sorry I didn't mean to pry into other species problems."

"It it...alright, but for the moment none of us are ready to speak about it on good terms. We have to go now, excuse us."

The three elites left just as quickly and abruptly as they came.

"Jeez, hope I didn't make things awkward for them." Jane said, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment."

Brennan chuckled a bit. "What? You acting awkward? No, that's never happened."

Jane playfully punched him in the shoulder, she knew it was just good humored ribbing. Sometimes you need to keep the mood light, especially when dealing with these sorts of scenarios.

Suddenly there was a loud boom and the two marines felt the ground underneath their feet shake.

"What the hell was that?" Brennan asked.

"Explosion, very large if it was that loud and close if we felt the shockwave." Jane hypothesized.

As if to confirm her suspicions an alarm blared through the room and an announcement began playing on the loudspeaker.

"Attention all available marines: We are under attack by covenant. Suit up and report to the front lines as quickly as possible."

Brennan responded immediately and began running out of the room, Twilight however was having a hard time moving her legs out of pure shock. Brennan noticed this and looked at her with concerned eyes.

"Jane...you gonna be okay?"

That was enough to get her out of her stupor. "What? Yeah, yeah i'll be...fine."

"Look I need to go join the rest of the troops and hold off these guys. You can stay back and defend the base from anyone who tries to get past us, you don't have to be up in front if you don't want to."

"No!" She replied quickly and loudly. She was nervous as hell but she wouldn't let that get the better of her. "I mean...no, i'll be fighting with the rest of you."

Brennan knew that someone like Jane had never seen combat like this, he knew that she was a squeaky clean kind of woman and may not be ready for what was out there. But he also knew she was very capable and resolute so all he did was nod and give her a reassuring smile.

"All right, good luck out there."

Brennan ran out of the room and headed for his quarters to suit up and Jane followed behind him until she took a turn towards her own room. She stepped in quickly and hit a button on the wall, opening up the closet where her armor was stored; each of the soldiers rooms had a specially made closet where their armor could be stored compactly and conveniently as well as allowing for tuneups and repairs if necessary.

Twilight stepped into the closet and stood on the floor spot for the process to start. The armor started with her boots whose metal plates snapped into place all the way up to her knees, next came the back piece, after that was the chest piece which covered her front and extended all the way to her forearm. The chestpiece and the boots extended and locked together in order to form the leggings, the gauntlets locked in to the end of the arms so they're hands couldn't be broken while in combat, and finally one of the most crucial pieces of a marines uniform laid on a shelf at the back: the helmet.

Twilight put the helmet on her head strapped it on, and once she got it in a comfortable position the HUD whirred to life.

Her breath starting to rapidly increase uncontrollably, her adrenaline was pumping and that only made things worse for the young girl who normally thought first and then acted.

She went to grab her weapons from a chest in her room; the standard issue marine assault rifle and magnum. Making sure the rifle was locked and loaded she strapped the magnum to her side and started running out of the room and to the front of the building where they are being attacked. As she runs through the halls she tried to calm herself down

"All right Jane, this is what you signed up for. This is what you've been training for, a way to help defend humanity."

She saw a group of marines running out the same way so she grouped up and joined them. Soon enough the large group and made it to the front door and as she looked outside the whole scene brought a chill up her spine: She could see the covenant grunts and Brutes marching towards them, firing off dozens of rounds of their energy weapons and the marines retaliating with an equal number of bullets. The battle had just begun and yet she could see quite a few covenant bodies littering the ground.

Most of the marines charged forward quickly to get into the thick of things but Twilight had stayed back a bit, veying to go for a smarter strategy. There was a small dugout close to the front of the base, Twilight holstered her assault rifle on her back and pulled out her pistol for more accurate shots. Her plan was to stay back and support the rest of the troops by shooting the enemies in places that would harm and cripple them: legs, arms, the chest, and then the other marines could finish the job.

The pistol came with its own scope so her shots had a very small chance of missing; she stayed back and began shooting the incoming covenant which staggered them for just long enough so that the rest of her fellow soldiers could finish them with a quick shot to the face or snapping of their necks.

At first this worked very well, she was assisting the troops but still staying out of the majority of the fight. However, for the moment the marines were winning and driving back the covenant forces meaning that they were farther away from Twilight and the farther they got the less accurate her shots got. She started moving up and while she had some time she reloaded her pistol so she wouldn't unexpectedly run out of ammo.

Unfortunately, she didn't noticed one of the bodies on the ground jump up and run towards her. When she turned her head it was too late as a brute jumped up and tackled her to the ground, unfortunately Twilight wasn't very top heavy so she didn't have enough strength to push the beast off as he stood over her menacingly with a plasma pistol pointed at her face.

"Human…" It screeched in it's deep pitched voice. "Filthy human, thinking it can kill me with a blow to head. But I am tough, I will kill you filthy human!"

Twilight struggled underneath the things weight, trying to get out, but it wasn't working. Then she looked to her side and saw something lying within her grasp; a covenant elite's energy sword. She still could move her arms, she had the potential to grab it and use it to kill the brute on top of her. But…

The brute's energy pistol began whirring to life, glowing with green light. That was the universal signal that he was about to fire a fully charged shot which at this range would blow Jane's head clear off.

She made her decision, she reached for the saber and pressed the switch on the side to activate the blade, then with all her force she swung it at the brute which knocked him off her.

He groaned but was still pointing the fully charged shot at her. "You pig, I'll…"

He didn't get to finish that sentence, in a moment of panic Twilight took the blade and lunged at the brute as hard as she could; the result was that she impaled the brute right in the face. The blow did not kill him quickly, he screamed at the top of his lungs in pain and she could see his blood leaking out of the back of his head and staining the ground.

Even after he died Twilight could not get up from that spot as the gravity of the situation kept her in place. She had done it, she had ended another being's life. Her eyes were the size of pinpricks, there was sweat going down the side of her face.

Then she noticed something. She was grinning. Why was she grinning?

"Jane!"

She heard someone shout at her, she looked up and saw Brennan's armor.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

She looked back down at the dead enemy in front of her and tried to think of a responce.

"No...I don't think I'm okay."

Brennan extended his hand to her, Twilight grabbed it and pulled herself up.

"Come on, these guys are almost all but gone. Why don't you head back to the base and we'll clear out the rest of them?"

"That...sounds nice."

"Okay." He patted her on the back. "Get some rest Jane, I'm sure everything will be okay."

"Yeah...right." She said halfheartedly.

Brennan ran back into the thick of things while Jane headed in the opposite direction.

She doubted that things could ever be the same now, because as much as Jane hated the thought that she ended a life, she couldn't help but feel...excited. She looked at her hands, the blood that had stained them, and she felt a certain sense of satisfaction, almost exhilaration.

Things may be okay, but now...they were certainly different.


	12. Chapter 11

I Have Returned Chapter 11:

The Element

The pelicans landing gear popped out with a hiss as Jane landed the ship in the hangar of the INFINITY.

"Do you honestly want to put them in a prison cell Jane?" Crimson asked.

"Well we certainly don't want them running around this place. This ship is 3 miles long, we don't want to lose them." Jane stated back, stern as ever.

"But a cell, really? I know they are our prisoners, but they've done nothing to deserve that."

Jane clenched her fist together, and gritted her teeth. "FINE THEN!" She shouted making Crimson flinch. After a second her muscles relaxed, and she put her hand over her head in frustration. "We'll put them in an empty barracks for now."

She unbuckled herself, stood up, and stormed out of the cockpit.

"There is something seriously wrong with her Roland." Crimson said as Roland's projection appeared on the dashboard.

"There is no doubt about that." The A.I. responded.

"She says that she's doing this for humanity, and while I believe that that's a part of it, I don't think that's her only reason. There is something she isn't telling us Roland."

"Got any other useful information sherlock?" Roland said sarcastically with a chuckle.

Crimson decided to ignore that comment. It was just Rolands nature to be like that, even in the worst of times.

"Roland, when was the last time Jane had a psyche evaluation?"

"Checking… Done. It's been awhile, but the last one she had showed that she was for the most part ok."

Crimson sighed "Then either we are wrong, or she's really good at hiding it. Either way this doesn't bode well for us or her old species. I'm worried about her. I know that there is good in her, there is no doubt about that, but her ending up back on her home planet has opened one hell of a can of worms."

"Well, what should we do then?"

"You just try to keep her as calm as possible for now, and I'll be there for her when I can."

"Aye Aye."

Crimson removed Roland from the pelican, and made his way towards the back of the ship where Jane telling her old 'friends' what was going on. All the while, each of them stared angrily at her.

"Ok listen up. All of you from this point in time are prisoners of the United Nations Space Command. Once this is all over, you can return to your pathetic lives."

"Well then we'll break out of here!" Rarity shouted.

"Ha, fat chance." Jane cuckled moving right up to Rarity. She kneeled down making putting her on the same eye level as the pony. "You see, you are on a spaceship now. In space there is no air, and I highly doubt you have enough power to teleport back to Equestria, or have the skills necessary to pilot this ship back. So good luck."

"You….. You….." Rarity started, but couldn't force herself to say what she was going to say.

"Go ahead Rarity, say it, I know you want to." Jane aggravated.

Anger took over Rarity's mind, clouding her judgment. "You monster!"

"I knew you would say that!" Jane said throwing her fist at the unicorn. It collided with her face sending a few teeth flying, and knocking Rarity out. Receiving a collective gasp from everyone in the room.

Crimson stood there in horror. He quickly shook himself out of it though to speak out in protest. "Jane, what the hell?"

Jane looked back to Crimson. Her eyes filled with rage, but at the same time he could see some sadness to him. She spoke to him in a calm emotionless tone. "I'm taking the element to get scanned, so we can see just how much power it has. You take the ponies, and lock them up." Before grabbing her element lowering the hangar door, and leaving.

And just like that everything went quiet.

Crimson just stood there, as the ponies stared at the floor. "I'm so sorry." He said.

After hearing that the ponies all looked up at him in curiosity. "I met her when she first came here. She was really kind." Crimson continued. "I guess all the death and killing got to her."

Sadness swelled up in Crimson's heart as he realized what kind of position Jane was in. She came from a world where there was no war, and then decided to fight in one. He had no idea what kind of effect that must of had on her, and yet Jane was able to hide it all from everyone letting all the sadness and pain bottle up in her. Seeing her homeworld once again must of been the final thing that make her break, and go insane.

A tear formed in his eye. "Dammit Jane, I warned you all those years ago."

He looked back at the ponies who were surprised to see him in this state. "Look I don't know you five, but I'm going to have to lock you up for awhile. And believe me when I say that I don't want any part in this, and I am sorry for what happened to Jane or whatever you called her back in the day."

Dammit Brennan, you knew she wasn't fit for a soldiers life the moment you met her. Why didn't you stop her while you could?

Commander Arimondo's Personal Quarters.

"AAAAAAARG!" Jane yelled as she threw her fist at her mirror shattering it. "I am not a monster!"

Jane sat down on her bed in a fit of rage attempting to calm herself down, but to no avail.

"You animals wouldn't understand the sacrifices that I had to make! All you do is wallow in your own peace which you have done nothing to deserve! While we have to risk our lives day after day for a peace that will never come!" She yelled again throwing her fist towards her bedside table knocking it over.

Rolands holographic image came up on his pedestal. "Jane please calm down. You won't be able to think straight in this state."

She instantly shot a glare at him. "They don't deserve the peace that they have. They have done nothing to earn it, while we do everything and don't have it. Does that sound fair to you Roland!?"

"I understand what you are saying, but you can't act like this. You are no good as a soldier in this state."

Jane finally managed to catch her breath. She thought about the A.I.'s words for a second, and unclenched her fist. "Ah dammit you are right." She said gaining a smile from Roland. "You know that big head of yours is going to save my ass one of these days Roland."

Roland had an inner sigh of relief. He was able to calm her down like Crimson asked.

"I hope so." He said trying to go along with her to keep Jane calm.

She held her element up to her face, the light from the ceiling shining through it giving off a surplus of purple colour around Jane's face.

"It's very pretty." Roland stated.

"It sure is." Jane replied a devilish grin forming on her face. "And oh so powerful."

Jane stood up and went to the door taking the element with her. "And now it's time to find out just how much power this baby has."

The spartan casually opened the door revealing dozens of crew members waiting outside throwing questions at her left and right such as.

"What the hell were those horse things?"

"What's that you are carrying?"

"Why did you leave the ship?"

The crowd almost overwhelmed her, until out from it came Corp. Terresia, who was one of the spartans on Jane's fire team. Terresia was one of the smallest spartans on the ship. She was only a 5 foot 5 tall red head with her hair curled up in a bun. The soldier ran up to her commander and saluted as Jane tried to get through the crowd.

"At ease Spartan."

Terresia lowered her arm, then folded both her hands behind her back before addressing Jane.

"It's good to see you back here ma'am, but I think everyone here would like to know where you went." Terresia spoke softly in a light cute voice as per usual of her. The only times Jane ever saw her raise her voice was in battle when she needed to speak over all the gunfire. In a way Terresia was sort of like Fluttershy in the way she spoke, but Terresia herself was more of an airhead, and also had a sense of humor.

Jane wasn't ready for this, she wanted to get the element examined first and then tell anyone who asked about what happened below, excluding a few details here and there if necessary.

"I'm a little busy right now Terresia, Plus it would take a hell of a long time to explain." Jane said now moving to the science labs with the crowd behind her.

"Can you at least tell me what's that in your hand?" Terresia said pointing to the element.

Jane paused for a second in thought, she could probably tell her what is was. She just needed to leave out a few things, she thought as she continued walking. "It's an artifact of great power. I'm heading to the science labs to see how much power it has."

"To be completely honest sir, it looks like a childrens toy is you ask me."

"I know, but I have reason to believe that it's Forerunner in origin."

"Oooo that's neat." Terresia said reaching her hand towards the element. She touched it causing Jane to pull it away from her.

"Don't touch it!" Jane snapped causing the other spartan to flinch, and back away raising her hands in defence.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that you didn't want anyone else to touch it."

Jane exhaled, she had to keep herself in check, at least until she had a clear course of action "It's fine, I've just been a little on edge lately."

The two stepped into a elevator, Jane pressing the button for the science deck. "I guess that thing in the war games must of really tired you out, no wonder you're in a cranky mood." Terresia laughed.

Jane decided to play along as it was an acceptable excuse for now. "Yeah, you don't often see the war games glitching out. Good thing we have a new version on its way designed for our new armour."

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Jane quickly made her way to Dr. Glassman's lab with Terresia following shortly behind her. A few scientists eyeballed the element as she walked past, but none of them spoke up.

Finally she was confronted with the door to the examination room. She didn't even bother to knock, and decided to just open it. Inside was both Dr. Glassman himself, and Crimson who had removed his armour. Glassman was staring a few monitors showing security cam footage of the Mane 5.

Jane cleared her throat alerting the two to her presence. With Terresia just smiling and waving her hand oblivious to what was going on.

"This is really fascinating. It's not everyday we discover a new species, let alone a civilized one." Doctor Glassman excitedly said. "And that one of them managed to sneak into our species!"

Jane automatically looked towards Crimson as panic quickly spread throughout her. "You told him!?"

"I took a photo of that painting of you with my helmet. I figured it would of been enough proof for someone like Glassman."

Jane gritted her teeth. She didn't like the fact that Crimson told Glassman. At the same time though she couldn't get too mad, Glassman would probably have to know what was going on in the first place to be willing to scan the element.

Terresia could only stand there confused. "Wait, what? I'm not sure I follow."

"It's a long story." Crimson said.

"Don't tell her!" Jane instinctively responded.

"People are going to find out eventually Jane. You can't hide it forever."

"I know, but if I've hid it for six years I can hide it for a bit longer."

"Hide what?" Terresia intervened.

Crimson sighed and decided to tell her whether Jane liked it or not. "She's an alien."

"Crimson!" Jane yelled in anger.

"Umm are you sure?" Terresia said. "Because she doesn't look like alien."

Jane facepalmed. Terresia really was an airhead. "That's because I'm disguised as a human." Jane was not enjoying this. Her one secret, now just being carelessly thrown around.

Doctor Glassman spoke up "Actually that's true." He said while pulling up some scans on a nearby monitor. "Once Crimson told me about you I pulled out a DNA sample of you. At first it seemed like normal human DNA, but upon further inspection it's only disguised as human DNA, in reality it is something else entirely. Jane you must allow me to do more scans of you."

Jane held out the element. "The only thing i'll 'allow' you to do is scan this. It's an artifact from the planet below that holds a lot of power. I just need to know how much power."

"Ok, an energy scan, that shouldn't take very long at all. Maybe ten minutes." He guessed carefully taking the element from Jane. "Just wait outside while I do my work."

Jane nodded in acknowledgement, and left the room alongside the two other spartans, only to be face to face with the crowd again which had now gathered outside Glassman's lab.

"I think they still want to know where you went sir." Terresia said, stating the obvious.

"Yes, we'd all like to know that miss Arimondo."

Jane could hear the voice from inside the crowd, but couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. She saw several spartans moving to the side and...aw crap, she remembered who's voice that was.

Commander Palmer stood at the front of the crowd, looking Jane down with a vicious stare. If looks could kill this one would kill Jane, go through the wall, and kill anyone else who stood in it's path for another 15 feet or so.

"C-commander Palmer, ma'am, it's good to see-"

"Cut the crap." She said bluntly. She walked up to Jane and put a finger on her chest. "While you were gone on your little escapade the ship was attacked by prometheans and almost killed half of this crew."

Jane was shocked. "There were prometheans on the ship? How did they get here without us detecting them?"

Palmer let out a dark chuckle. "Oh I think you'd know that better than any of us Arimondo."

"Commander?"

"You, one of our most loyal soldiers, sneaks off the bridge and leaves for god knows where. Coincidentally, shortly after you leave the prometheans show up and we had to fight for our lives from a sneak attack that we should have seen coming. Now they're dead and you're back." She put her hands on Jane's shoulders and leaned in, reducing her voice to a whisper. "Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"Commander Palmer I know what I did may be grounds for suspicion but I can assure you-"

"You're a rat!" She yelled. "You betrayed all of us commander."

"And what exactly would I defect to?" Jane retaliated as stern as ever.

"The storm Covenant obviously. Halsey did, and so can you."

"Why? Because last time I checked, I am nothing like Doctor Halsey."

"I'll find the why out in court after I arrest you." Palmer said while pulling out handcuffs.

Jane pushed Palmer away herself in retaliation. "That's not going to happen. Besides, you have the same rank as me."

"I don't care. We can do this the easy way or the hard way Commander Arimondo." Palmer threatened.

"You don't want to do that Commander, this will only end badly for you. You are not going to arrest me Palmer, and that is final. Now please...back off" Jane stated.

"Very well then." Palmer lunged at Jane throwing her fist at her. It collided with Jane's face knocking her backwards and sending a little bit of blood out.

Palmer threw another punch with her other fist. This time though, Jane raised her arm and grabbed the fist, then proceeded to punch Palmer in the stomach receiving a grunt of pain from the brunette Spartan. That didn't discourage Palmer though, who with her left leg swept under Jane, sending Jane to the floor.

Palmer stood over her, bent down, and grabbed her shirt. "You criminal scum." She shouted as she started throwing punch after punch on Jane's face, until Jane finally managed to kick her off.

Jane spat blood as she stood up. "I had my reasons for leaving, and I assure you they were in favour of humanity."

"Bullshit!" Palmer yelled.

Crimson had had it with this. He ran right between the two Commanders, who were acting like basic arrogant soldiers. "Stop it you two!" He yelled. "I was with Jane, and trust me when I say that she had no ill intentions to 'humanity' at least." He said putting emphasis on humanity while looking at Jane.

"I find that hard to believe. I don't see any way in which a soldier can abandon their ship with good intentions." Palmer said condescendingly.

Just then Doctor Glassman came out of his lab looking thrilled. "Jane, you wouldn't believe what I just found out."

Jane took this as good news and smiled. As she re-entered the lab with the other spartans right behind her.

"Hey! Don't walk away from me." Palmer said. Her words not even phasing Jane.

Glassman looked like he could barely contain his excitement as he began to tell the Spartans about his findings. "This is amazing. From what my scans say, this thing could power the entire earth for decades. The amount of pure energy contained in this artifact of yours is way off the charts."

A large grin of satisfaction formed on Jane's face. "This is fantastic. There are five more these artifacts Doctor, how much damage could they cause if we syphoned their energy into a weapon?"

Glassman thought of it for a second then said. "I can't even begin to imagine how much destructive force they would have. It would make nukes look like something a caveman would use in comparison."

Jane's grin could only grow wider, looking almost evil. "Perfect. I'll report this to Captain Lasky, I'm sure he will be pleased."

"I don't think that will be possible." Palmer said.

This struck confusion with Crimson, and Jane. "And why is that?" Crimson asked.

"I'm sorry to tell you, but he's dead."

To Jane everything just seemed to stop then and there. Lasky was dead?


	13. Chapter 12

I Have Returned chapter 12:

Inked Up

6 years ago…

The air was still. Her breath in an almost panic like state. Jane was only able to calm herself down for a little while, before the reality hit her again that she had taken a life. That was a thought she just couldn't get out of her head, something she never thought she was capable of...and now her hands are stained with blood.

What does this change? Does it make her a different person than she was no more than an hour ago?

How would her family view her? Of course Shining was a soldier as well, but he had never taken another life before. Did this make her a better soldier than her own brother? Even princess Celestia herself had only gone as far to banish others, but never kill them.

Killing was illegal under any circumstance in Equestria. Only soldiers had the right to, but Twilight wasn't part of the Equestrian Military, she was part of the United Nations Space Command.

Equestria was lucky to be in the position it is in. No war, no violence. It was a happy place where anyone could feel like they belonged. Smiles everywhere you looked, and good ponies who would always wish you a happy day. From all that she read, it seemed like humanity has never had a period of time like that. Even during times without war, there was still murder, rape, and other crimes.

Humanity needed peace, and Twilight wanted to help. But did that mean doing this over and over again? Would she even be able to keep count of all the lives she would have taken by the end of this?

Just then Brennan walked into the room, back from the battle. He had some dirt on his face, and a cut above his left eye, but he seemed ok. He saw Jane there in her state of panic, not being able to sit still as her body shook.

"You ok Jane?" He asked.

"I…. I don't know." She responded, barely managing to get out the sentence.

A worried look formed on his face as he sat down and put an arm around her for comfort. "It will be alright Jane, everyone here has been in the same position as you before, and if they haven't they will be sooner or later."

Brennan made a strong point, but that didn't ease her pain, and her worries. "Am I still going to be the same person? I really don't want this to change me. I spent my whole life believing that violence was horrible in any situation no matter what." She said.

Twilight looked at him hoping for answer. He felt sad just looking at her face, it was covered in dried up tears, and her eyes were full of fear. Brennan sighed as he struggled to find the right words for her. He wanted to tell her that everything would be fine, and that she would be the same but he didn't want to lie to her.

"Look Jane...I'm not going to lie, this will change you. That change will never be undone, it will be with you for the rest of your life, but it doesn't have to change who you are. I've changed since I first killed, but I am still me, and in the end that is what matters. So as long as you don't let it get to you, you will still be the kind hearted Jane Arimondo who I know."

Jane threw her arms around Brennan surprising him. "Thank you Brennan." She said. "I promise that I will always be who I am."

"I'm glad to hear that." He said back returning the hug. Deep down though, he was worried. Twilight was just too innocent not to be heavily affected by this. She may be smart, but that doesn't mean she has a strong mind.

"But killing is still terrible, and what I've done is awful." She said.

Brennan sighed. "That's true Jane, that's true. Killing is bad, but that doesn't mean that reason behind it has to be. Today you killed out of self defence, and in protection of the human race, there is no shame in that."

Twilight could only tighten her hug after that. "I understand, and thanks again."

The two continued their hug until a voice interrupted them. "Aww aint that cute." The voice said.

Twilight and Brennan quickly snapped back to reality ending their hug. They quickly looked up to see the rest of Twilight's roommates all laughing at them. The voice was that of private Jones, a tall muscular african american. Behind him was Terresia, and Anthony who was a short italian man, but boy did he pack a punch.

"You two having some fun?" Anthony laughed.

"No I think they were hugging." Terresia said completely missing the meaning behind his statement.

Brennan chuckled. "Very funny Anthony, but you know I have a girl back home. I'm just comforting Jane after her first kill."

The three soldiers lit up with excitement like a christmas tree. They all crowded around Twilight's bed with smiles on their faces.

"Holy shit Jane, I didn't know you had it in you." Jones cheered while giving her a slap on her back of approval.

"So, Jane what was your first kill?" Terresia asked. "Was it a grunt?"

Twilight was to say the least astonished by all the attention she was getting. "It was a brute."

Instantly they three soldiers turned towards Brennan. Obviously getting the hint, he spoke up. "I can vouch for that, I saw it with my own eyes." He said.

They all turned back to Twilight absolutely ecstatic, especialy Jones. "Woh hoh, Jane Arimondo, Official badass!"

Quickly an idea snapped into Anthony's head. "Hey Jones, you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Ohh ya, I'm thinking that." He responded. Jones walked over to his bed, opened up his bag and started to rummage through it.

Brennan quickly realized what the two were planning, and spoke out against it. "No, you can not honestly think that I'm going to let you do that to her Anthony."

"Oh come on." Whined Anthony. "Lighten up. Besides, I bet Jane would look kick ass with one."

"Ah ha!" Jones said, pulling out a small device with a needle on it out of his bag. "Found it!"

Out of curiosity Twilight asked. "What is that?"

"It's a tattoo machine, we're going to give you a tattoo!" Jones said, his smile gleaming.

"A tattoo!" Twilight yelled. She had heard about them before, they were permanent marks on her body, and they wanted to give one to her!

"Oh come on Jane." Anthony said. "It's for a celebration of your kill."

"I'm not too sure about this." Jane said.

Brennan couldn't stand for this. "Don't give into peer pressure Jane, you don't have to do this!"

"Oh shut up Brennan." Anthony said while handing Twilight a piece of paper, and a pen. "Here, draw us what you want for a tattoo Jane."

Twilight froze up, the idea of putting a permanent mark on her body was almost repulsive. She was about to yell 'no' at him, but suddenly it struck her. She had a great idea. Twilight took the pen from Anthony and started drawing. The rest of the soldiers sat there in silence as she drew, with Brennan giving a glare to everyone else.

"Done!" Twilight said holding up her drawing. It was her cutie mark, not that any of the soldiers in the room knew that.

Jones laughed. "Seriously Jane? Is that the best thing you could think of? A couple of stars?"

"Hey, it's her tattoo, she can get what she wants." Brennan said.

"Fuck man, fine." Jones complained while grabbing the other equipment he needed. "Where do you want it?"

"On my shoulder will be fine." Twilight said while taking her shirt off. Thankfully she had a bra on.

Jones quickly set up his equipment, but before he started Brennan spoke up again. "Jane, are you sure that you want to do this?"

Jane gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure Brennan, don't worry."

Jones got to work on her. The needle felt strange due to this being her first, and hopefully last tattoo.

To distract her from it, Twilight turned her head towards Brennan. "So, you've never told me about this 'girl' from home before haven't you?"

"Oh ya. Well she's a high school sweetheart of mine. To be honest I'm surprised her and I are still going strong all these years later. When I get back, I'm planning on marrying her."

"Aww that's so sweet. I hope this all ends soon so you two can be happy together"

"Haha, ya, she makes my heart flutter." Brennan laughed. "Do you have anyone from home like that?"

"No, I have a lot of friends, but nobody who I'm really interested in. To be honest, I've never had a boyfriend before."

"You're in you twenties and you've never had a boyfriend before?" Terresia asked.

"As embarrassing as it is, yes." Twilight answered.

The idle chatter distracted Twilight from the pain of the tattoo, and pretty soon it was over with.

Jones wiped down the last of the ink and then stepped back. "I'm done Jane, tell me what you think."

Twilight looked down at her shoulder and she was...impressed. Despite the pain in her shoulder the mark looked pretty much exactly like it did when it was her cutie mark; the lines didn't run, the colors were nicely saturated, and the stars were symmetrical. It was very good for an improvised tattoo.

"I love it, you do good work Jones." Twilight complimented.

He just shrugged it off. "Eh, a guy's gotta have his hobbies."

Anthony gave a loud yawn. "Well my hobby is sleeping, let's get some rack time. Who know's how much rest we'll have before more Covenant shown up?"

"I hear that. See you two later." Jones agreed.

Now Twilight's room was vacant, except for her and Brennan. Brennan was silently wondering what was going on Twilight's mind, while she was still admiring the tattoo.

"I know you told me not to give into peer pressure Brennan, but I really like this tattoo."

"Alright Jane, but remember, it's on your body forever, and you'll never get rid of it. If you're willing to live with that, then enjoy it." Brennan said while walking out of the room. "Goodnight Jane, get some sleep, you'll need it."

He closed the door on his way out leaving Twilight all alone. She looked at her arm once again and marveled at her cutie mark. "Don't worry Brennan, I accepted this thing being permanent years ago." She giggled.

Now that Jane got a good look at her arm, she noticed that she was now quite muscular. Hell, she bet that she could beat Applejack at a hoof wrestle if she wanted to. She might even be able to beat both her, and Rainbow Dash. It was hard to believe how strong she had become recently, and it was even more shocking knowing that she would continue to get stronger.

Twilight wondered if when she got back would she her newly found strength carry over to her pony body. It was possible, plus it would be funny to see the looks on her friends faces when she got back.

Hopefully by the end of all of this Twilight would have a lot of good stories to tell her friends about her time as a human in the UNSC. There would be a lot of bad things up ahead for her, but at the same time Twilight bet there would be some good things as well. Twilight made a choice to join humanities fight for their right to exist, and she was too far int to back out of it. She would get through this, she had to, no matter what.

In the end when she thought about it, she was surrounded by good people, and they had all taken lives. There was no reason why she couldn't still be a good person despite what she had done earlier today. She wasn't going to change who she was, and Jane knew it.

Crystal Empire

Present day.

Luna could see the Crystal Empire in the distance. She had been flying all day to it after the events earlier today. What ever that thing was, it wasn't the Twilight she used to know. Luna gasped for air as she struggled to keep moving forward after so long. She was an alicorn, but even she had her limits.

Luna just could not fathom what made Twilight or whatever she called herself now they way she was. How could any being believe that such generous violence could accomplish anything. Still though that species of hers seemed somewhat familiar, what were they called? Luna tried to delve deep into her mind, but instead a sharp pain coursed throughout her body.

"AAAAHHH!" She screamed. The pain made her body go numb, stopping her mid air, and sending her plummeting towards the ground.

Her body hit the ice cold tundra, thankfully though she was already close to the ground while flying so it didn't hurt her that much. Still though, she was exhausted, and lying on the freezing ground. She didn't understand, she had the same pain earlier when she tried to think about it. Luna tried again to think of what that species was, but as soon as she tried the pain rushed back to her.

She couldn't think about it now though, what mattered was that she got to the Crystal Empire with the rest of the elements. Luna got up on her hooves, spread her wings, and took flight again despite her lack of energy.

Closer, and closer she got, as the lights from the Crystal Empire grew bigger. It wouldn't be much longer now till she was there. They had to know about Celestia's kidnapping, and of Twilights return. She also needed to protect the elements from there. Twilight knew Luna well, and she would know that Luna would come here. She'd be back, hopefully this time though, Luna would be ready.

That wasn't the only Twilight related thing she would have to deal with soon. There was her family. Her brother Shining Armor, and sister in law Cadence lived in the Crystal empire. A few years after Twilight left, her parents also moved there in hopes that they would be the first ones to see their daughter when she came back.

In her thoughts though, Luna didn't realize that she finally made into the city. With a sigh of relief she flew up to the tower. She saw a large landing strip at the back of the tower. Luna flew down, and landed with a thud onto the landing strip instantly collapsing from exhaustion after. She struggled with all her might to stay awake, but darkness quickly consumed her as she passed out.

A few hours later...

Luna shot up awake. Instantly she looked around herself to find that she was in the guest bedroom at the Crystal Empire's palace. From the look outside the window, it was still night. Luna calmed down, and caught her breath. The Elements of Harmony were still in Fluttershy's bag, now next to the bed she was in. Luna had a sigh of relief knowing that she and the elements were safe.

Suddenly Luna saw the door to the room creak open. To her surprise, it was Twilight Velvet, Twilight Sparkles mother. Velvet opened the door, and Luna noticed that Velvet wasn't alone. Behind her was Twilights father Night Light, her brother Shining Armor, and Princess Cadance.

Sadness swelled up in her heart seeing them after what she just experienced with Twilight, or Jane, or whatever she called herself back then. Luna knew she had to tell them, they deserved to know what happened to Twilight. She didn't know what to say though, all that she could do was stare at them, and try not to cry.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Velvet asked picking up Luna's sadness.

Luna couldn't take it anymore, she had to tell them."I have some awful news for you all, news that pains me to share with you. Celestia has been kidnapped."

She received a collective gasp from the entire room at once. Tears started to form in Luna's eyes. "That's not all though. Twilight is back, normally I would be happy about something like that. Sadly though things didn't go nicely." Luna said trying to hold back the tears. "She's not the same anymore, she isn't even a pony. She's some freakish alien now. The worst part is though is that she stormed the castle at Canterlot, and tried to steal the Elements of Harmony. I was able to save most of them, but she got away with one."

Luna looked up at Twilights family expecting to see faces of shock, instead the all fell silent. Then Luna noticed something, they all had dried up tears on their faces. Why would they have those?

Then Cadence spoke. "We know Luna, we know."

Luna was absolutely dumbfounded by that answer. "What! How?"

Then Luna heard loud footsteps from outside the room. Curious she sat up wondering what is was. They grew closer, and closer until she saw it. A large alien right outside the door to the room. She recognized it instantly, it was the other one with Twilight earlier that day!

It was wearing dark blue armour that was very dynamic. It had strips of white in it too, which added to the effect. This time though, it didn't have it's helmet on revealing its pale face. It had dark brown eyes, and relatively long brown hair to match it.

Luna felt her heart racing, why was it here? And why wasn't it hurting anyone. Strangely though, it looked sad for some reason.

"What are you doing here!?" Luna yelled.

Suddenly though, it spoke back to her. "Princess Luna, my name is Brennan, but you can call me Crimson."


	14. Chapter 13

I Have Returned Chapter 13:

A Warning

"It was them!" Jane shouted. "It could only have been them!" She was still in Doctor Glassmans lab with Crimson, Palmer, and Terresia.

Crimson walked over to Jane slowly, holding his hands up to show that me meant no harm. "Whoa Jane, calm down, calm down. We don't know anything yet. Don't jump to any conclusions yet." He said in his most calm voice to prevent Jane from going on a rampage.

Jane automatically turned towards Crimson. "Well then who else could of done it?!"

"I don't know." He said, calmly. "I can't think of anyone else but-"

"Exactly! They are the only ones who could of done it."

"How would they even get here?" He asked. "They don't have any technology."

"No." Jane said. "I bet a powerful unicorn could have teleported up here."

Palmer scoffed at this. "A unicorn? What the hell is going on here!" She demanded.

Jane had had it with Palmer. She snapped, and activated her magic holding the Spartan 4 mid air while squeezing on her making Palmer send out grunts of pain. "Shut...up." Jane said darkly before releasing Palmer who immediately fell to the ground.

Palmer let out a few coughs as she tried to get up only to be met with the furious eyes of Jane. A million questions ran through Palmers mind, but all that she could focus on was that she was scared.

Terresia almost fainted seeing this, and looked even more confused than usual. Glassman on the other hand looked positively excited, grabbing multiple scanning equipment to monitor what he had just seen.

"What… What the hell was that?" Palmer blurted out, her voice shaky.

"None of your business, that's what!" Jane retorted.

Crimson put a hand on Jane's soldier quickly turning the angered spartan's attention towards him. "Get a hold of yourself Jane, before you do anything that you'll regret."

Jane shoved his arm off of her in a fit of rage. "I don't regret anything I do!"

"Okay, okay, just don't hurt anyone who doesn't need to get hurt."

"She punched me earlier, she deserves it."

"Yes, because we left the ship without authorization. She has every right to be mad at us."

Jane was left with a face of disgust. "Are you honestly siding with her!?"

"Only because you're losing it. Look Jane, you need help!" He shouted. "You haven't been right in the head since we got here. I want to help you Jane, and prevent you from destroying your homeworld." Crimson was getting desperate, Jane was practically going insane at this point. He couldn't do anything though, as long as she had those freaky alien superpowers.

"If you want to help me Crimson, then you'll stand by my side."

He sighed. "You know I can't do that with the stuff you've been doing lately."

"I told you things were going to go back to the way things were after this!"

"How do you honestly think things can go back to the way things used to be after this Jane?" Crimson questioned. "After discovering that you're an alien, after you betraying your own kind, and after you going insane about it?"

Jane was absolutely appalled at this as her rage soared through the roof "Are you sympathizing with them Crimson!? I would have thought that you of all people would understand why doing this is the right thing for humanity. We may have slowed the covies after the Halo event, but we didn't stop them. Were almost faced with extinction at this point, and any other outcome no matter what the cost is preferable to that!" Jane was breathing heavily at this point. Sweat was running down her brow as she got worked up due to her anger.

Jane started moving forward, backing Crimson up into a corner. "Listen Jane." He said. "That I understand, we must have to do everything we can to save humanity, but I can tell that that's not your only reason. It's obvious that you have some sort of personal vendetta against your species, just please tell me what it is so we can talk it out." Crimson pleaded on his knees now in hopes that she would listen.

"Who cares about them? They're just a bunch of filthy, pathetic animals who have no idea of the hardships humanity has been through. We have been through so much, and they have been though nothing at all! It's best for them to get a taste of what the real world has to offer!" Jane exclaimed.

Crimson got back up to face Jane eye to eye. He could tell now that practically all sanity was gone from Jane now. Tears started rolling down his face as he tried one last time to bring Jane to her senses

"So that's it then? One race goes extinct so that the other doesn't have to. Do you honestly think you have the right to make that call?" He put his hands on her shoulders, trying to reach out to her or make her understand. "Jane you're losing your grip on reality. All of the pain you've gone through in the last six years has gotten to you, and that's only amplified by the fact that lived in a peaceful world before." He cried out giving her a hug in the hopes that it would calm her down, and bring the Jane he knew back.

Immediately she shoved him off of her sending Crimson crashing into some of doctor Glassman's equipment.

The room went silent save for the sounds of the computers in the room running. All eyes were on Jane who could only look at Crimson with disappointment. "You're pathetic." She said.

Jane stormed out of the lab leaving the rest of the spartans, and doctor alone, and in shock.

The silence was finally broken by Palmer speaking up. "What the hell was that Crimson? And what's this about her own species, and most importantly what the hell did she do to me?!" Palmer demanded.

Crimson could only sit down weeping. He was a strong person emotionally, but even he had his limits. Seeing this, Roland decided to respond for him. "It's a long story Commander Palmer, so I'll try to keep it short. We recently just found out that Jane used to be a member of the indigenous population of the planet we're in orbit of. There are six artifacts of great power down there, one of them we have here. It's the same kind of power that Jane used on you, but far more amplified. She wants to use it for humanity, and is killing members of her own kind to get them. Plus as you already know she's convinced that they're responsible for the death of Captain Lasky."

Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Is this some sort of sick joke Roland?" She asked.

"I couldn't make this up if I tried." The A.I. responded.

Palmer didn't look angry, but more...disappointed. "Damn, this shit gets crazier by the day."

Glassman pulled Crimson out of the equipment he crashed into. He was still sobbing slightly as he left the room with Palmer quickly following behind.

The two silently walked through the hallway with Palmer trying to think of something to say to the spartan to cheer him up. In the end though, she couldn't think of anything. Palmer wasn't exactly very good with emotional support, so instead she tried to change the subject.

"An accident happened with Pearl. Apparently some unknown entity got a hold of her, and convinced her that humans have abused her, and erased bits of her memory when she left."

Crimson stayed silent for a moment. The two just walked aimlessly around, with Sarah right behind Crimson hoping for a response. Palmer opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by Crimson himself.

"Is Pearl ok now?" He spoke in a very quiet depressed tone.

"I'm not sure, she's showing signs of rampancy now, which should be impossible at her age. Then again though, she is an experimental A.I., and I have no idea what kinds of fucked up things that entity did to her."

The conversation couldn't get anymore awkward for them. Suddenly though, the ship's PA system turned on stopping both Spartans in their tracks. And then Jane's voice came through.

"All military personnel report to S deck, main room, for an announcement."

"Oh shit." Crimson said. "That doesn't sound good."

INFINITY S DECK MAIN ROOM

S decks main room was by far the largest room in the entire ship. It was where the Spartans all put on their armour. The entire room was packed shoulder to shoulder, making it hard for Palmer, and Crimson to move around.

There was a small balcony towering above the whole room, and there stood Jane wearing an officer's uniform. Her presence was unmatched as all of the soldiers stared up at her.

From the looks of it Jane had calmed down, but that didn't stop the two spartan's from worrying.

Jane brought up a microphone to her face, and tapped it a few times to make sure it was working. "Attention all personal" She said, her voice echoing across the room. "Over the past few years, I have gotten to know you all as brothers in arms, as family. I value each and every one of your lives, because I know you are all good people."

"Oh shit." Crimson said. "I hope to god she isn't doing what I think she's doing."

Jane continued. "I speak to you all in a time of distress for all of us with the death of our good Captain, Thomas Lasky. He was an incredible man, and captain. It was an honour knowing him."

"Oh god no. She's doing it." Crimson said, getting worried now.

"And it pains me to say that I have reason to believe that the lifeforms from the planet down below are responsible for his death."

The crew started murmuring together in confusion of Jane's words.

"It has also come to my attention that the populus of the planet also have artifacts of great power that could save us all, and yet they withhold them from us because they don't believe we have the 'right' to them."

The other soldiers at this point in time were completely fixated on Jane's words.

"I have seen you all struggle through tough times, facing challenges that they would never believe. You all deserve a free life in which you can sleep easy at night. No, scratch that, humanity deserves that. Believe me when I say that I am not going to pass up this chance for our freedom, your freedom. I say we go down there, and show them the power of humanity!"

The room erupted in a frenzy of cheers for Jane, chanting her name over and over again. Jane tapped the mic a few more times again to calm everyone down. "I know this doesn't follow normal protocol, but for the time being I shall declare myself Captain of the UNSC INFINITY until further notice. Now, who is with me!?"

Once again, the crowd cheered, save for Palmer, and Crimson who could only stand there. They quickly snapped out of it though, turned around and made a beeline for the nearest elevator. They had to confront Jane.

UNSC INFINITY BRIDGE

Crimson, and Palmer assumed that Jane would would head towards the bridge after her speech, and right they were.

Jane herself stooped over the holographic projection desk in the middle of the room with Roland on it.

"Have you found it yet Roland?" Asked Jane to the A.I.

"Yes." He said bringing up a holographic representation of the planet. He quickly zoomed into the northern section of the planet to see a city encased in a dome. "You were right when you said that there was a warm section amongst the tundra." He continued.

"That's where I believe Luna took the rest of the elements. I'm positive that they must be there. I know Luna, this is the first place she would go to in an emergency."

Crimson wasn't planning on letting her finish her conversation though as he walked up to her and said. "What the hell Jane, you said that we were going to use your old friends to get Luna to hand over the elements, and now you want to invade them!" Crimson was far done with being sad now, he was angry, and he knew that Jane had to be stopped.

Jane turned around to face Crimson. She had looked calm before, but her rage flooded back into her at an instant. "They killed Lasky, they don't deserve our mercy!"

"But innocent lives could get hurt Jane, you have to at least give them a chance to surrender."

"Did the Covenant ever give us a chance to surrender, no they didn't."

"And that's what makes us better than them. If we just attack then we would be stopping down to their level."

"No we wouldn't. The Covenant is bent on wiping out our species, I am bent on getting those elements."

"I don't believe that for one second Jane. You're probably not going to stop until that planet is in ruins."

"No! Once we get those elements we're leaving. After this I don't ever want to see that planet again!"

Crimson was left speechless. He realized at that point that nothing he could say would persuade her in any direction. It was hopeless to even try to stop Jane with words.

Jane attention turned towards Palmer who stood at the back of the Bridge watching their conversation. She shoved Crimson out of her way and walked up to her. "As you already know we have a few prisoners aboard the ship. I am ordering you to guard them from this point onward."

Palmer opened her mouth to refuse her order, but closed it, and lowered her head upon realization that it was a fight she couldn't win. The crew recognized Jane as of right now as their captain, going against Jane would be going against the crew. If she even tried to disobey her, she would be locked up. Palmer sighed to herself, and looked up at Jane. "Yes sir." She said in a hushed voice of defeat, and walked out of the bridge to fulfill her order.

Jane looked back at Crimson again who just stood there staring angrily at her. "Now if you'll excuse me Crimson, I have to check up on preparations for the attack." She said before leaving as well.

"Roland." He said, gaining the A.I.'s attention. "You said that you found out where Jane is planning on attacking right?"

"I did, she called it the Crystal Empire." Roland said curious as to where Crimson was going with this.

"And Jane believes that Luna is there."

"According to her yes. What are you trying to get at here?"

"Roland, prep me a pelican with the coordinates to this Crystal Empire. I'm going to warn them of Jane's intentions, and hopefully get them to surrender the elements."

"Good plan." Roland said quite impressed. "And let me guess, you want me to distract Jane for you so she doesn't find out?"

"Bingo."

"Ok then, but be quick, Jane wants to attack before sunrise."

"I will Roland, I will."

If Crimson couldn't get Jane to stop this, then he would have to get Luna to stop it. It wouldn't be an easy task, but if he could convince Luna to hand over the elements, Jane wouldn't have to attack the Crystal Empire.

Crystal Empire - night time

Crimson's Pelican flew over the the Crystal city awakening it's citizens from their slumber. He could see from the cockpit lanterns being turned on, and ponies leaving their houses to look up at the alien spaceship. Most awe stricken, others were in full on panic, and some were so scared they couldn't even move.

They were all innocent civilians, and if he failed tonight, all of their lives were at stake. Crimson shook his head, he had to push those thoughts away from him for now, and focus on his goal. Still though, his actions could determine whether some of them would live or not, and that scared him.

He looked up at the massive tower in the middle of the city. It was obvious that that building must be the capital of the Crystal Empire. With the pelican Crimson circled around the tower until he found a small landing strip extruding from it. It was just large enough for the pelican to fit on it as he landed.

The cargo bay door opened up with a hiss as he exited the flying vehicle and onto the strip. Immediately though, he noticed a passed out pony on the strip itself.

Upon instinct he ran up to it quickly to provide assistance to find out that the unconscious pony was none other than Princess Luna. He guessed that she must have passed out trying to make her way here from Canterlot.

Crimson quickly picked her up and ran for the door inside the tower when a bunch of guards came running out of it pointing their spears at him. Putting two and two together, Crimson instantly guessed that they think he harmed her, and spoke up against it.

"Don't worry I'm friendly." He said. "She's passed out from flying all day, she needs rest. I found her like this on the landing strip when Landed."

The guards however didn't budge. "Do you have any weapons?" One of them said.

"No." Crimson responded. "I came unarmed."

"Why are you here, and what are you?" It asked back.

"I came to give a warning to Luna, but I guess that I'm going to have to wait until she wakes up. I'm from the species known as a human, I guess you could say that I am an alien."

A voice came from behind the guards. "Well then human, you can tell me your warning." Out from behind the group of guards came another pony, this time it was an alicorn. It was shorter than Luna, but still very tall compared to the rest of the ponies. It had a light pink coat, and a purple, pink, and white mane.

"I am princess Cadence." She said. "Come inside, we can talk in there."

Cadence, and the guards led Crimson who was still carrying Luna inside. Crimson noticed that Luna still had the bag with the elements on her. If he wanted to, he could grab the elements right then and there, and make a run for it. As tempting as it was, he conflicted with his moral code, plus he had done enough wrong to their species already.

It was strange of this Cadence pony to so easily trust Crimson. But maybe it was just her nature he thought. Either way it was good for him.

Cadence let Crimson into a large well lit living room. It looked like a place where the 1% would live, filled with elegant pricy looking furniture, and covered with portraits of what Crimson assumed to be famous ponies. To the right of the room was a large couch, and a mahogany coffee table next to a fireplace which was currently heating the room.

Cadence motioned for Crimson to sit down which he eagerly did to please the pink princess who did the same.

Two ponies came by to take Luna to a guest room to rest leaving the Spartan and the Princess alone.

"I'm sorry for coming to this place at such a late time, but what I have to say is very important." Crimson said.

"Very well then, but tell me what is your name human?"

Crimson wanted to get right into the heart of the conversation and tell her of Jane's intentions, but he was willing to humor her if it would yield better results for him later. "My name is Brennan, but my friends just call me Crimson. I am a soldier as you can probably tell from the armour."

"That's very fascinating Brennan, or would you rather me just call you Crimson?"

"Either works."

"Very well then Brennan." Cadence said with playful little smile. Crimson never really liked people calling him by his name after he became the leader of fireteam Crimson. People would always mispronounce his real name, so he gladly wore the nickname of Crimson once he got it. If it made Cadence happy though, he would be more than willing to let her use his real name.

"I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. I reside over the Crystal Empire with my husband Prince Armour. Now tell me Brennan, why would an alien come to warn Equestria of anything? Is there some natural disaster coming up that will harm us?" Cadence asked.

Crimson shook his head. "No, not a natural disaster. It's that a member of my species or I guess you could say a member of your species is planning on attacking this place. Actually, it's a bit of both."

"What do you mean by that." Cadence asked.

Crimson took in a deep breath, this was going to be the hard part. "Well you see, a member of your species long ago snuck into my species. Nobody knew this until an accident happened aboard our spaceship leaving it stranded in orbit around your planet."

Cadence started to look a little worried now, but she nodded in response to him which told Crimson to continue. "She seemed obsessed with getting your elements of harmony and using them for our species."

"Why would she want them?" Cadence asked.

"My species been fighting a losing war for the past thirty years against an alien alliance. We are nearing the brink of extinction at this point. She thinks that the elements can change the tide of war. She forced me against my will to help her invade your capital and take the elements."

Cadences mouth opened in shock. "Wait that means you…"

"Yes, and if I had the choice I would of never done it, but she threatened me with your guyses so called magic. Doing that is probably going to be one of the worst memories of my life. Believe me when I say that I wish I didn't do it. She managed to get one of the elements, and Luna escaped with the other five"

Cadence was not happy with this, but she chose to let the alien finish before she took any action. But she could tell from the look on his face that he did not enjoy what he did earlier that day.

Crimson continued. "Actually that's also where I learned of her identity. I don't know if you would have known her, but she was a princess to. Her human name is Jane Arimondo, but I think her pony name was Twilight."

Crimson had done it now. Cadences calm mood was quickly whisked away as she stood up in anger. "Is this some sort of joke!? You, an alien come to my castle, tell me that you assisted in an invasion of Equestria's capital, and then claim that the mastermind behind it was my sister in law!"

Panic quickly came over Crimson. He was not expecting the two to be related. He suspected that they might know each other being Princesses, but not this. "No, I'm telling the truth. Look, the captain of our ship was just murdered, and Twilight has convinced the crew of the ship that your kind is responsible for it. She's using that as a means to get an army to invade your empire in a few hours so she can get the elements!"

"Listen here alien! I know my sister in law. She would never do anything like that. For all I know you could be saying that as a coverup for you being responsible for all of this."

"I understand why you may come to that conclusion, but look at this." Crimson said while pulling a photo out of his armour, and handing it over to Cadence. "It's a photo of me and her."

Cadence looked down at the photo in utter disbelief. It was of Brennan and another human that looked just like Twilight with their arms around each other in a friendly manner.

"Still though, Twilight would never dare harm another pony, and I know that." Claimed the Princess.

"A lot can happen in six years." Brennan stated.

Suddenly though the two beings ears picked up weeping? They both turned around to be faced with three more ponies. Crimson didn't know them but Cadence did. Twilight Velvet, Shining Armour, and Night Light.

"Who are they?" Crimson asked utterly clueless as to who they were.

"They're her family."

Crimson gasped. He fucked up now. He upset her whole entire family.

Quickly their weeps turned into full on crying making Crimson feel terrible. "I'm so sorry." He said, with his head hanging low. "I wish it wasn't true myself."

Crimson could feel the entire room staring at him with hatred, and disgust. That didn't last for long though as they all heard a groan come from another room. It was Princess Luna waking up.

UNSC INFINITY BRIDGE

Jane stared down at the planet below from the bridge of the INFINITY. Them and their pathetic undeserved peace. She hated it. They dare call her a monster after all she went through. She would show them, she would show all of them.

Roland appeared on his pedestal. "All equipment, vehicles, and personal accounted for." He said. Little did she know though that he was lying.

"Where is Crimson Roland? I haven't seen him in awhile." She asked.

Roland instantly knew that he had to change the subject. If Jane knew that he escaped down to the Crystal empire to warn the ponies, go knows what she would do to him. "Jane tell me, how did you get that name of yours. Your new name I mean, not your old one."

Jane was confused for a second by Roland not answering her question. She passed it off as nothing though, and decided to answer her question. "Jane Harold, and Jessica Arimondo."

"Huh?" Roland said in confusion.

"Two people I met when I joined humanity. When I first got there, I was confused and scared. It was just a testament to how weak and pathetic I was back then. They didn't know my secret, but they conforted me in my time of need. I came to this world via a portal, and I immediately wanted to go back. After a day I made a break to go back to the portal. I convinced them to follow me in hopes that they would help me get back to it."

"And?" Roland asked.

"I made a selfish move doing that. Both of them were killed by the Covenant on our way there. I felt awful, and I couldn't push myself to go back through the portal, not after what I had seen. I vowed that day that I would become a hero for humanity, and help stop the Covenant, and here I am today about to do that. When I went to sign up for the military they were so desperate for soldiers that they would take anyone, no papers asked, just your name, so I told them that I was Jane Arimondo. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes it does." Roland said. There was a lot he learned about Jane today, and it all just kept on getting more depressing.

Crystal Empire - guest room

"Princess Luna, my name is Brennan, but you can call me Brennan."

Princess Luna screamed in fear, and backed herself up to the other side of the room. "Stay away from me you beast!"

"I am not here to hurt you. Jane is coming here in a few hours with an army to take the rest of the elements."

"So you're here to taunt about it. You sicken me!"

"No, I'm here to warn you about it."

"And why would you, her right hand man who helped slaughter the guards back at the castle tell me this!?"

"I had my hands tied back then. Jane gave me no other choice but to help her back then. I didn't want to do what I did back there. And now I've snuck away from her to warn you."

"Humph! And what good would that do, your kind is far more advanced than ours. What good would a warning do?"

Crimson braced for what he was about to say "That's the thing. Jane claims that all that she wants is the elements. If you give them to me right here and now, we can avoid the loss of anymore innocent life by her hands."

Luna was downright pissed at this. "Oh really, and what would Equestria do then now that we would be defenceless!"

"Look, after all of this, the existence of your species will get out to the higher ups of my species, who would probably send military personnel to guard your planet. We would integrate you into our society, technologically uplift you. This means things like more food, cures for diseases, and longer lives."

Luna wouldn't budge though. "Do you honestly think I will trust you after what you did. Leave this place immediately you beast, before I have to remove you myself."

Crimsons heart sank. He had failed. It was admirable that he tried, but the fact that he failed made him feel empty inside. "Then I'm sorry I wasted your time Princess. I only wanted to prevent any more innocent ponies from dying. I'll leave now."

"Good." Luna said.

With a heavy heart Crimson returned back to his pelican. He was about to step back into it before Cadence came up behind him.

"Brennan, your actions were unforgivable if what you said earlier about what you and Twilight did in canterlot were true."

This only serviced to make Crimson feel even more horrible inside.

"But thank you for trying to do the right thing in the end, but you know we can't hand over the elements to you."

"I understand." He said back. "I wish Twilight wasn't doing any of this in the first place. The past six years have been hard on her. All the death, and killing has bottled up inside of her, and now she's finally snapped. I'll continue to try and stop her before she can do more harm, but I'm afraid that it's a battle that I cannot win."

"Good luck then Brennan." Cadence said before going back inside.

Crimson entered back into the pelican. It soared up through the air giving him one last look at the Crystal Empire before he soared through the clouds. It was beautiful, it was just a shame though that all that beauty was about to be torn down by one of their own kind.

Indeed, dark days were about to fall upon Equestria...


	15. Chapter 14

I Have Returned Chapter 14:

New Friends

Six years ago...

Twilight slept surprisingly well that night. It had seemed that the exhaustion from the days events was enough to put her to sleep, rather than the fear from the days events keeping her up.

She was now at the bases mess hall grabbing some breakfast. Twilight decided to get up early that day to get there first, leaving her almost alone at the moment, save for the workers, and a few others soldiers who also got up early.

The mess hall was a sight she soon got bored off. It just reeked of gray. Gray tables, gray chairs, and gray walls. All of them, just different shades of gray. It also didn't help that the seats were plastic, and uncomfortable. The worst thing though, was the food. In short, it was shit. Even through basic training all the way up to now, Twilight still gaged at the taste of military food.

In the end though, it was just another thing that she missed from home, the taste of food with a lot of love put in it.. Twilight couldn't even imagine Pinkie Pie trying to eat this food. She would probably starve to death here.

Twilight wondered for a moment what her friends would think of her, if they saw her like this. As a soldier she meant. It was not something any of them would expect of her, but Twilight's main focus was on how they would view Twilight knowing that she had taken a life. Most of them were disgusted at the very thought of killing. But Twilight was doing it for a good cause, and her first kill was in self-defence. They would certainly understand that, right?

Without her noticing, Jones took a seat right next to her, with Anthony, and Terresia sitting down at their usual spots. It was always like this. Jones was on the right to Jane, Terresia was across from her, and Anthony was on her left. Brennan on the other hand would sit with the soldiers from his room on the other side of the room.

It only made sense though, Twilight, and the others were only fresh out of training, and Brennan had already been in the military for a few years prior, plus he had already been stationed here for a while before Twilight came along. It only made sense that he would sit with the people he knew longer, although he would always stop by before meals ended to chat for a bit.

Twilight took a sip of her coffee as the others started to dig into their food. Ever since she started having to wake up at six am every morning, she learned to love the stuff despite how bad it tasted. She had Equestria coffee before on occasions, which was far better, but Twilight guessed that was more due to the fact that she payed a lot of money for it, and that this was just military brand coffee.

The food was just a pile of mush. It was supposedly good for you, but it tasted like a skunk got ran over, crapped itself, and was left out in the sun for several weeks. She actually puked the first time she had the stuff.

"I don't think we'll ever get used to this stuff." Anthony said, taking a bite out of his food.

"You can say that again." Twilight replied, using her fork to move around her food a bit.

Jones on the other hand never seemed to get bothered by the food. A good trait that Jane wished she had. He swallowed a bite of his food, washing it down with water. "So Jane." He said as he finished his water. "Any regrets yet on the tattoo?"

Twilight looked down onto her tattoo again. She couldn't deny his amazing artistic skills when it came to it. It was perfectly coloured exactly as it had been when she had it back in Equestria. Besides, she was prepared to live with it for the rest of her life long ago.

"None so far." Twilight said, giving Jones a smile.

"Well, you certainly have a strange taste in tattoo's Jane." Said Terresia.

"Ya, but it works on me." Twilight said pulling up her sleeve to reveal the cutie mark.

Anthony eyed it for a second, admiring Jones's work "I guess you could say so. I don't why, but it works with your personality."

"More than you know." She said under her breath.

Jane pulled her sleeve back down, and took another sip of her Coffee, the jolt of caffeine further waking her up.

The morning fell into their usual routine. The same conversations that they've had over and over again that strangely never got old. It felt weird for Twilight, she had just killed the other day, and yet this was such a normal morning.

She glanced over at the table in which Brennan usually sat to see that he wasn't there. That was strange, he would normally be over here by now.

"Hey, have anyone of you seen Brennan around?" She asked her friends, receiving a collective head shake from all of them.

"Can't say that we have." Said Anthony.

Curious Twilight got up, and walked over to Brennans table to ask his roommates. Each of them looked up at her seemingly knowing why she was there. "He's in our room." One of them said.

Twilight gave him a quick thanks and proceeded out of the mess hall. Luckily for her, his room just so happened to be right across from the mess hall.

Cautiously she knocked on the door. There was no response. Twilight in response placed her ear on the door. At first she heard nothing, but after about fifteen seconds she was able to make out faint crying.

Confusion washed over Twilight. Was that Brennan? Without thinking she opened up the door to find Brennan sobbing on his bed, over a data pad.

He didn't seem to take notice of her, until she sat on his bed next to him.

"Oh, hey Jane." he said. Wiping the tears away from his eyes.

Jane put her hands on his shoulders for comfort. "What's wrong Brennan?"

Brennan didn't respond at first. He just sat there trying not to sob while Twilight had her arm around her hoping that it would help him feel better. After all, he had helped her the previous day.

Despite his silence Twilight decided not to push further, it was better for him to tell her when he was ready to. And so, they just sat alone together in silence, until Brennan managed to pull his head up.

"She's… She's dead." He said.

"Who's dead?" Jane asked.

"That girl from home. I loved her so much…" Brennan burst in tears again causing Jane to put her arms around him.

There was a lot of things Twilight learned about friendship. One of those things was that you should always had to be there for you friends, and they should always be there for you. He was there for her, and she was going to return the favour.

"There there." Twilight said. "How did you find out?"

"I just got a message from her parents. They were vacationing in New Mombasa when it was hit." He barely managed to get out before tears started to run down his face again.

Twilight ran her hand through his short brown hair. She had never fallen in love with someone before. She had a few crushes, but nothing else. There was no way Twilight could understand what he was going through.

"I wish I could understand how you feel right now Brennan."

"It's alright, I know you mean well."

"Well you have me hear. I'm not exactly interested in you, so I can't be a girlfriend, but I will always be there for you as a friend."

Brennan sat up, and looked Twilight in the eyes. "I'm afraid that that can't happen."

"What do you mean?"

Brennan grabbed his datapad, selected a message on it, and handed it to Twilight.

What she saw on there, she couldn't believe. "You're being redeployed?"

Brennan gave her a nod. "I got the message last night, I'm leaving in a few hours." He said wiping the last of his tears.

Twilight hadn't noticed it until now, but she could see that his bag on the other side of the room was out.

"No, this can't be happening. What am I going to do without you around. I'll be scared."

"You have Jones, Anthony, and Terresia. They are all your friends Jane."

As much as she didn't want him to go, he was right. As long as she had them around she would be fine. She was more concerned about him though.

"What about you though? After losing your girlfriend, how will you handle things without any friends by your side."

He looked down at the floor in despair. "I'll just have to manage."

"What time are you leaving exactly?"

"At 12 pm."

Twilight looked at her watch to discover that it was only 7 am.

"Do you need any help packing?" She asked.

"That would be nice thank you."

Twilight started shifting through his stuff that he already had out. Folding up what little clothes he had, and placing them in his bag. Until she opened up his locker. In there was his armour which was to be expected. On the inside of the door though, was a photo of a very young looking Brennan, and a girl. The girl was very short, maybe 5'4, and had black hair.

That must of been her. She quickly stashed it in his bag, hoping that seeing that picture wouldn't upset Brennan.

A few hours later…

A pelicans engines roared to life as all of the Soldiers who were being redeployed boarded it single file. All were carrying bags of various sizes, and most of them looked depressed that they were leaving.

Twilight reluctantly handed Brennan his bag. "Am I ever going to see you again?" She asked.

"I don't know. Probably not though."

"I'll miss you. After all, you've always been there for me throughout all of this."

"I know. Jane, can you promise me something."

"Of Course, what is it."

"If we ever meet again, promise me, you'll still me the Jane I know. Like I said, what you did the other day will change you, but you don't have to change who you are."

Twilight threw her arms around Crimson, who returned her hug. "Yes, I will be me. I Pinkie Pie promise you."

"Pinkie Pie?"

Twilight chuckled at his confusion. "You wouldn't understand." She said. "But I will say something though, you can never break a Pinkie Pie promise."

Brennan couldn't help but be confused by this. He had heard of a pinkie swear before, but not a Pinkie Pie promise, but he went along with it. "Well, then you better not break it."

"Don't worry, I won't." She said, ending their hug.

A soldier from the pelican yelled out at Brennan, causing his attention to turn towards it. "Come on Brennan, get on! This thing is about to leave!"

He turned his head back to Twilight. "I guess it's time."

"Ok then. Goodbye Brennan."

A tear formed in Jane's eye as he boarded the pelican. He was a good friend, and one day before she would go back to equestria, she knew that they would meet again.

The pelican took off, the gust of wind blowing Jane's hair back.

"Goodbye indeed Brennan. And we will see eachother again, after all I have a Pinkie Pie promise to keep."

UNSC INFINITY Present day.

Palmer stood in front of the doors to where the aliens were supposedly held.

She was under orders from Captain Arimondo herself to guard them.

The very fact that Jane Arimondo was captain pissed her off. It went against UNSC regulations, but Sarah couldn't do anything about it as long as Jane had the support of the Crew. It was true that a Captains power was only as strong as the loyalty of his or her soldiers.

She pressed the button on the door opening it up to reveal five pastel coloured Ponies. Was this what Jane once was?

Palmer stood there for a moment motionless as the Ponies gawked at her. She shook herself out of that state and entered the room, closing the door behind her.

"Umm… I'm commander Sarah Palmer." She said, but the ponies gave no response. "I'm under orders from Captain Jane Arimondo to guard the five of you."

The mere mention of Jane's name put a scowl on most of their faces. Touchy subject she guessed. Having an old friend come back after god knows how many years as an alien must be rough, and judging from Crimson's and Jane's argument earlier, it wasn't a happy reunion.

It was a military dorm room that they were in. It consisted of four sets of bunk beds with very little room in between for the soldiers to move. And of course everything was in INFINITY's usual blue colour palette.

Cautiously Palmer sat down on the nearest empty bed. She didn't feel the need to stand, after all she was in armour, and she had lightning fast reflexes, so she didn't need to stand to guard them.

Silence reigned over the room for what felt like hours. The ponies themselves didn't even chat with each other, which was probably because Palmer was there. The situation couldn't feel more awkward for Sarah. Most of them refused to even look at her save for a few glares, all except for one. A small yellow pegasus Pony with a pink mane who had been staring at her the whole time.

Quietly the pegasus stood up catching the attention of the rest of the ponies, and Palmer herself. She slowly, but surely trotted over to Sarah looking almost scared to death, yet brave.

"Umm yes?" Palmer asked. It felt so strange for her to be having a talk with a small horse.

The pony gulped down and spoke to her in a very hushed, and timid voice, very reminiscent of Spartan Terresia. "You said you name was Sarah Palmer right?" It asked almost cowering before Palmer.

"Yes, that's my name." Palmer responded whilst trying to keep her voice low to not frighten the pony. "Do you need anything?"

"No, it's just our previous guards said some mean things about you."

"Oh I see." Palmer had guessed that the crew would be talking behind her back. In all honesty she wasn't surprised at all.

Rainbow Dash scoffed. "Who cares Fluttershy, from what we heard, she's just like Twilight."

"Don't be like that Rainbow." Fluttershy said. "We don't know that."

Palmer knelt down beside Fluttershy so she could get at eye level with her. "Thanks, but I'll be fine. I don't your help."

Sadly for Palmer though, Fluttershy wasn't going to take no for an answer."It's ok, you don't have to be like that."

"I'm fine. I don't like it, but I've grown used to my reputation around here." The little yellow pony who she now knew as Fluttershy was really starting to bug Sarah now.

"Well, you must have some friends though. I'm sure of it."

Fluttershy was really starting to prod at areas Palmer didn't like."My only friend here just died."

Fluttershy almost went into shock at that moment clasping her hooves against her mouth. Palmer had no idea how much death and pain was a touchy subject to the little pony.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry." Fluttershy said slumping down a bit.

"It's fine." Palmer said. She hadn't really thought about it until now, but Lasky truly was her only friend on the ship, and now he was gone. They had been through so much together, and she had barely any time to mourn his passing. Sarah didn't notice it, but she was beginning to sniffle up.

"You don't look fine at all." Fluttershy asserted. Palmer didn't know, but the shy pony was all of a sudden stern, like a mother giving tough love. Even the rest of the ponies looked somewhat shocked "You can't hide your feeling about things. You can try to be strong, but all that will happen is that they will bottle up in you."

"I….I…." Palmer tried to form a sentence, but all that she could feel was sadness starting to swell up in her heart.

Without notice, Fluttershy lept at Sarah giving her a big hug. "It's ok, just let it all out. About everything, the mean things others say about you, and your lost friend. Just let everything out."

Sarah didn't know why this Pony was forcing so many feeling up inside of her. It didn't matter though, because at that moment Sarah could no longer hold back her emotions any longer as she put her arms around Fluttershy and burst into tears. Throughout the tears Palmer was able to blurt out. "Everyone hates me, and my only friend is gone."

Even the remaining Mane 5 was stunned. It seemed that Fluttershy's kindness could get to anyone.

"It's ok Sarah. I'll be your friend."

Hearing that Sarah tightened their hug. "You really mean that?" She said.

"Of Course, after all friendship is magic."

In any normal circumstance those words would have made Palmer cringe, but she didn't care right now. "Thank you."

Even the other Ponies started to ease up, some of them joining their hug. All except for Rainbow who was still pissed at everything human.

Just having all of them surrounding her in a tight embrace started to make the pain go away. The pain from Lasky's death, and the pain from her reputation throughout the ship. It felt nice to be like this.

Fluttershy, and the rest of the mane five released their hug with Sarah, already feeling better.

"Now, tell me about yourself." Fluttershy asked.

And that Palmer did. Because for the first time in a long time Palmer felt accepted.


	16. Chapter 15

I Have Returned: Chapter 15

Assault on the Crystal Empire

Night still loomed over the Crystal Empire as soldiers of the Royal Equestrian Army were ordered to sharpen their weapons and prepare for invasion.

Citizens were ordered to vacate their homes, take only what was necessary, and head for the nearest train station. Any who couldn't were told to hunker down in their houses, board up all of the door and windows, and to not come out until told.

There was a certain organized chaos in the streets as Luna saw from the Crystal tower. She inhaled a deep breath nervously as she waited for dawn to approach. It was still a few hours away, but that did nothing to ease the princess of the night.

Cadence trotted up beside her and looked over the railing to see the evacuation of the city unfold before her very eyes.

"You really think she's coming with an army?" Cadence asked. "We don't even know if we can trust that alien from before."

"From what I saw earlier today, I have no choice but to believe what he said. I saw her myself Cadence, she'll do anything to get those elements."

Cadence contemplated her next words for a few seconds. "The alien told me that she had been fighting in a war for the past six years, and that all of the death around her damaged her mentally."

"She's not even a shadow of herself anymore. I honestly find it hard to believe that that was her."

"Does that really change anything though?"

"No, I guess not."

"Maybe we should've given him the elements, because all that this is going to do is lead to more bloodshed. And I would feel horrible to put that upon our citizens."

Luna sighed. "I know, but we can't just give up our only defence. After all, it's possible to find a new barrers for them. Giving them up would just leave us even more defenceless."

"He also claimed that his species has been losing a war for a few decades, and is almost going extinct. Maybe the elements could save them?"

Luna was appalled at this. "Humph! He was probably just lying to you in hopes that you would hand them over."

"Still though, he did come here to warn us, which has given us a chance to evacuate the city."

"He assisted her in murdering innocent guards back in Canterlot, he's not a good being." Luna insisted.

"But he's trying to write the wrongs of his past. I guess you could say he's like you with Nightmare moon in that regard."

That stung. Luna hated when people brought up her actions in the past. Cadence was right though, Luna felt terrible for what she had done back then, and it wasn't impossible that the alien felt the same way about his actions.

"I suppose you're right." Luna said. "But none of this talk changes anything. Right now we have to focus on preparing to defend ourselves. Get your brother to make the shield around the city as strong as possible, and we'll make sure to guard the elements with our lives.

"Alright auntie Luna." Cadence said before retreating back to the castle.

UNSC INFINITY Hanger

The pelican's landing gear extending onto the floor on the hanger as the engines rumbled down.

Out through the back came out Crimson in full armour except for his helmet. He looked all around him at soldiers cleaning their weapons for battle, fixing vehicles, and counting ammo. It was sad to see all of them blindly following Jane like this.

On a pedestal near him Roland appeared looking worried. "You got trouble coming your way." He said.

Just as Roland said that Crimson saw on the other side of the hanger, a door opening with a fully armoured Jane coming out of it.

Roland continued. "I tried for a long as I could, but she eventually got it out of me."

Jane walking up to him looking as pissed as ever, and punched him square in the face. It knocked him back a few feet, drawing blood from his gums in the process.

"Traitor!" She yelled. "I can't believe that you of all people would cross me like that."

Brennan wiped the blood running from his lip. "I did it to get the elements in a peaceful manner. While I disagree with you methods I too believe that the elements will save us."

That was partially true. He did do it to stop Jane, and hopefully snap her out of her madness once she finally got them, but he couldn't deny that the elements could help the human race.

"Do you honestly think they deserve that after what happened to Lasky!"

"I don't care who did what to who, I just don't want anymore killing."

"Well toughen up then, because that's our Job, to kill in the name of the human race!" She shouted. "And I'm the captain here, so we're doing things my way, and you will follow my orders. If you won't, then I'll have to charge you for treason, which is something I don't want to do."

"Then don't Jane. Look, they didn't listen to me, and they refused my offer. You on the other hand they know better, and if you go down there and try to make amends then they might give them to you." He pleaded.

"It's too late for that Crimson. I've done what I've done, and they won't forgive me for it if I go down there and offer them peace, which they don't deserve by the way."

"Please just wake up and realize what you're doing is wrong. If you claim that you've cut all ties to your past as you say you've done, then you have no right to take those elements."

"Just because I've cut those ties doesn't mean that my pathetic past didn't happen. Those elements are far better in humanities hands than in anyone elses, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get them."

"For gods sake there are innocent ponies down there Jane, there lives will all be at stake if you send an army down there."

"Then I'll order the troopers to not harm any civilians unless provoked."

Crimson guessed that that was all he was going to get from her. As crazy as Jane was, it was good to see that even she drew the line at a certain point.

Jane turned around and stormed off in the other direction. "The attack starts in a few hours, I hope you come to your senses by then." She said before leaving the room.

Roland once again appeared on his pedestal. "Good thing she has some sense in her."

"Who knows how long that's going to last though. Hell, before we know it she could be declaring war on their entire species."

"Lets hope it doesn't get to that then." Roland said. "Sadly she's taking me with her down there, I'd much rather stay up here than assist her. Plus I don't want to leave Pearl in the system."

"Palmer told me she was showing signs of rampancy."

"Yes. From my scans it looks she has some memory gaps. That's a bad thing for A.I.'s, because were practically pure data. A gap in data is like losing a body part to us. It hurts from what I've heard. It's a taste of what's to come, and because Pearl is a prototype smart A.I. it's throwing her into early rampancy."

"That doesn't matter right now though. I have to go down to that planet with Jane."

Roland was confused. "You're going to help her?"

"No. I'm going to pretend to be on her side. I'm done with trying to stop her with words, so I'll stop her with force when she least expects it."

"So you're going to backstab her?"

"If it means stopping her, then yes I will. How much longer until we get our slipspace drive working?"

"We have a few huragok working on them. I'm guessing maybe twelve hours at the most."

"Good, I'll knock Jane out, bring her back here, then we'll enter slip space. Once were far away from here, she'll lose her powers, then we can take her into custody."

"Do you think that will work?" Roland asked.

"I don't know, but I have to try. For the ponies sake, and Jane's."

UNSC INFINITY Bridge

Crimson walked into the INFINITY bridge to see Jane looking out at the planet below through a window. He stopped right beside her and looked at her face which was still turned to the window.

She was gritting her teeth in anger as she looked down upon her homeworld. Her entire face had furry plastered all over it. Except her eyes though, once again Crimson saw sadness in her eyes. He almost wanted to try and convince her again, but he choose not to take the risk. This was the only chance he had to stop her. And while he hated the thought of betraying his best friend, he knew he had to do it.

"Jane." He said, knocking her out of her focus, and diverting Jane's attention to him.

"What do you want now?" She growled.

"I came here to apologize for my actions Captain. I realize that I acted like a fool. My number one concern should be the protection of the human race. After all that's what I signed up for. Those elements might be our only way to save our species."

For the first time in a while a smile lit up on Jane's face. It was almost as if she was back to normal. "I'm glad you see things my way Brennan. I knew I could count on you to side with me, you just needed a little time to think about it that's all."

"Ya, that's right Jane."

He hated lying to her like this. But it was what needed to be done. It was the only way he could save the ponies, and hopefully Jane.

"So what's the game plan." Crimson asked.

Jane pulled up a holographic display of the city on the holographic projection desk in the bridge. "Our troops will come in through the south in the remaining working vehicles. As you can see a massive shield is over the city. Normally anyone can pass through it, but recent scans show that it's been hardened following a recent evacuation of the city. It's a strong shield by their standards, but not by ours. A few rockets from a pelican will shatter it. That's where we come in. While the soldiers take the city, and surround the tower on both ground and air levels, you and I will fly in using a landing pad at the back of the tower."

"I think I already know what comes after that."

"Yes, we storm the tower from the top while the other spartans storm it from the bottom. We'll make our way to the throne room where I presume they'll have the elements."

"Be careful though, you're family is there Jane. Your mom, dad, and brother are all there."

He saw Jane almost freeze up for a second. He wasn't expecting that. "Then I'll have to do everything I can to keep them out of harms way. If worse comes to worse though, I'll do what I have to do. Hopefully they'll see things my way like you."

It was good to know for Crimson that even she didn't want to harm her own family. Once again it was nice seeing her draw the line at a point.

Crimson gave Jane a fake smile and said. "Then lets get our weapons and get going sir"

"Right you are Crimson. I knew you had it in you Spartan!"

Jane put on her helmet. Pulled Roland out from the system, and placed it in her before leaving the Bridge with Crimson to load up.

UNSC Pelican en route to Crystal Empire.

Crimson looked out through the Cargo bay door of the pelican and down at the mass of vehicles driving on, and flying above the cold tundra. There was everything imaginable. warthogs, mongeese, gungeese, Falcons, hornets, and other pelicans holding tanks.

It was an entire army, and they were all out for pony blood, all thanks to Jane.

"Magnificent isn't it Crimson." Jane said. "It's amazing what humans can do when we unite. It's time for us to show our power as a species."

"Yeah." Was all that Crimson could say.

Both spartans made their way up to the cockpit of the pelican where their pilot was driving.

Crimson could see in the distance the shield surrounding the Crystal Empire. The sun was just starting to come up, it's light reflecting off of the crystals in the empire. It was a breathtaking sight. Truly it was a shame that it was all about to be destroyed.

"Fire rockets on my mark." Jane said to the pilot.

"Yes Captain Arimondo." The pilot said back.

As they drew closer Crimson could start to make out the entire city.

"Mark!" Jane said.

The pilot pressed a button on the pelicans controls, and a barrage of missiles fired out towards the shield covering the city.

The rockets impacted shattering the protective shield letting the cold inside. With the sun barely creeping out over the horizon, both the shattered pieces of the shield, and the crystals gave of an amazing show of light.

The warthogs started to drive through the city, and head towards the massive crystal tower in the middle.

Meanwhile the other pelicans started to descend, and release the scorpion tanks from them.

Crimson could see from the cockpit a small group of guards from a watchtower start to attack a warthog only to be destroyed by the hogs rocket turret.

"Poor ponies." He whispered to himself. Thankfully the engines of the Pelican made it impossible for Jane to make out what he said.

A group of pegasi guards flew up to level with the pelican Crimson and Jane were in. However they were quickly taken care of when Jane fired the machine gun turret at them, the bullets tearing the soldiers up, their corpses falling towards the ground.

Crimson strained and found himself turning away so he didn't have to see the brutal carnage unfolding before him. It was a disgusting sight, but he knew that it would be all over soon once he took care of Jane at the best chance he could get.

Jane on the other hand was to focused on the battle to notice Crimson straining to look at the madness. Crimson looked at her. Jane face was very flat and emotionless, but he could just feel the hate as if it were radiating around her.

Some of the warthogs made it to the base of the tower. Soldiers started to rush inside to take the place. God knows how many innocent ponies were down there dying.

The falcons and hornets on the other hand surrounded all of the balconies, and openings above ground, cutting off all escape routes. Whoever was inside was trapped now. Those poor souls. Crimson almost wanted to stop Jane right here and now, but he knew he had to wait for the right moment.

The pelican flew around towards the backside of the tower where the landing pad was.

"Hover over that landing pad pilot." Jane ordered.

Jane and Crimson returned to the open cargo bay door, put on their helmets, and lept out of it onto the crystal pad once they were close enough.

There were a few pony soldiers waiting for them there who immediately started to fire lasers from their horns at the two Spartans.

Alas it was pointless of them to do that as their attacks barely dented their shields.

Jane pulled out two M7 submachine guns from her sides, and opened fire on them. The small bullets cutting through their feeble flesh like it was paper.

Crimson fired off a few shots from his MA5D assault rifle, but purposely missed so Jane would be the only one with blood on her hands. Thankfully it seemed that Jane was too focused to notice.

Jane hastily ran into the building, Crimson following behind her.

They were met with another batch of guards, in which Jane quickly opened fire on. One pegasi guard on the other hand managed to leap onto Crimson forcing him to use his rifle. It looked like he wasn't getting through this completely innocent as he hoped for.

Jane ran ahead not wanting to waste any time before more guards showed up. As pathetic as they may have been, they still wasted her very limited supply of ammo for both of her guns.

The two spartans made their way down a few flights of stairs, and hallways, passing by the room in which Crimson talked to Cadence.

After a bit they turned into a hallway packed with guards all with their horns lit.

"Surrender now!" One yelled. "You are outnumbered."

Jane laughed out loud at this, confusing the guards. She lit up both of her hands with magic, and split the massive blockage of soldiers apart akin to moses parting the red sea.

The bodies of the guards were crushed onto the wall spilling blood, and guts everywhere. And Jane throughout it didn't look like she even broke a sweat before she continued forward.

Eventually they were met with the doors to the throne room. It was like the events back in canterlot were repeating themselves, but Crimson knew though that the outcome would be different.

"You ready Crimson?" Jane asked. "I'm counting on you to watch my back. There is nobody else who I can trust with this."

"Don't worry Jane, I'm on your side." Crimson lied while giving her a reassuring fake smile. "I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise."

"Good, because it all comes down to this. After we get those elements it's all over."

Crimson hoped she was telling the truth to him, because if he failed that's all he had left to hope for.

And with a powerful blast of her magic, Jane burst open the doors.


	17. Chapter 16

I Have Returned Chapter 16:

Loss

6 years ago…

It had been one week sense Brennan left. If felt strange for Twilight, the possibility of never seeing him stuck with her. It was a shitty world out there, something that Twilight soon learned after joining humanities fight.

In Equestria good ponies lived long fantastic lives, here on Earth it didn't matter who you were, anyone could homeless, injured, or even killed the next day thanks to the Covenant.

Nobody was safe, no matter how strong, well respected, or good you were. It's a sad reality that humanity lived with everyday, and yet Equestria didn't. Why? Humanity constantly fights for peace, and yet they never get it, and then ponykind gets it just handed to him on a silver platter.

Twilight couldn't help but feel sorry for all of the humans who lived like this. They suffered so much. When Jane thought about it, some of them deserved peace far more than the snobby nobles in Canterlot. But it was a dark line of thought she was entering, so she decided to push it to the back of her mind.

In the end though that's why she chose to stay here. Humanity needed heros, and after saving Equestria so many times, Twilight knew that she had the potential to save the human race. Celestia told her for so many years that she was special, and she proved that to all of pony kind, it wasn't out of the question that she could do the same for humanity.

Twilight sighed to herself, and laid back onto her bed. She was stuck in another one of those never ending thought loops. She needed to find something to distract her.

Thankfully for her Jones just walked into the room.

"Hey Jones." Twilight said with her trademark smile. "What are you up to today."

"Well as of right now, I'm looking for you." He said back.

Twilight was a little surprised by this, but the surprise wasn't unwelcome. "What for?"

"I'm teaching a few of the hinge heads here how to play pool. We were going to have a two on two game. I wanted to see if you wanted to be on my team?"

Hinge heads. A derogatory term for the Elites or Sangheili used by humans, Twilight had come to learn it fairly quickly after becoming human.

Twilight once again was surprised. "I've never played pool before, so I wouldn't be very good at it. Why don't you get Anthony or Terresia to play?"

"Well Anthony is too busy being a lazy fuck right now. And Terresia is hanging out with some other soldiers." Jones joked. "So you're all I have. Don't worry I can teach you to."

Twilight stood up out of her bed. She hadn't done much that day other than her usual mandatory exercises. She would always play games with her friends back in Ponyville, so it would be like a taste of home to her by going along with Jones.

"Sure why not then. It would nice to learn a new game."

The two started to head the the leisure room at the base. War was shit, but they still had facilities to keep soldiers minds off of the horrors of the Covenant.

The entered the small room, which showed little signs of life. Most of these days soldiers just slept of trained in preparation for an eventual attack. The games room itself was even moved to a smaller room because the larger one was needed for more important tasks.

Twilight looked around her. The room had once again the typical barren colour palette that the rest of the base had. All that was in there was an air hockey machine, a foosball table, a regular table with a deck of cards and of course the pool table.

A few soldiers were playing what seemed to be blackjack, but other than them Twilight and Jones were the only ones in the room.

After about five minutes of Twilight and Jones making small talk the elites finally came in. Jane immediately recognized them from the exercise room a little over a week ago. It was just Veren, and Vussen.

Veren was the first to speak. "Viral didn't desire to attend."

"I can't imagine why." Jane responded with lighthearted sarcasm.

Jones chuckled at this. "That's ok man, after all this game is usually played two versus two anyways."

"Very well then human."

Twilight could tell from Veren's voice that he didn't have much interest in playing. After all, she had heard that the Elites were a very honour based society, so she couldn't imagine playing games being a well respected pass time. Twilight could only guess that they were just trying to fit in for the time being.

"What if the purpose of this 'game'?" Vussen asked.

"Well." Jones started while moving towards the pool table. "The game is called pool."

Jones started to take an assortment of multi colour balls from pockets on the edges of the table, and place them in a small triangle save for one white ball. Some were stripped, and some were fully coloured, and they all had numbers on them.

"As you can see we have two different kinds of balls. Solids, and stripes. One team will have one type of ball, and one team will have another." Jones continued as he grabbed some long wooden sticks. "The goal is to use a stick called a pool cue to hit a white ball in a way that will cause it to collide with one your teams balls to get them into the pockets on the ends of the table."

Jones took out a blue ball from the triangle, and placed it down onto the pool table. "Let me demonstrate."

Jones took the pool cue lined up his shot, and hit the white ball sending it rolling towards the blue one. The two smashed into each other, and the blue one ricocheted into a pocket on the corner.

After that Jones took the blue ball back out and placed it once again into the triangle. "The ultimate goal of the game is to get the black ball with the number 8 on it, but you have to sink that one after all of your other balls are sunk."

"Is that all?" Veren asked. "And why is it called pool?"

Veren due to being an elite couldn't pronounce some human letters, so it came out as fool, but Jones got the gist of what he was saying.

"There's a few other things, but you'll learn as you go. As for the name of the game, I have no fucking clue why they call it that."

Jones grabbed a few pool cues, and handed them out to Twilight, Veren, and Vussen.

"Jane and I will be strippes, you guys can be solids."

Jones removed the triangle keeping the balls together, and lined up for the first shot. He took it sending the cue ball smashing into the the group of all the other balls sending them in practically every direction.

"Ok." He said. "Which one out of your team will go first. The next time you're team goes though, it'll have to be the other one taking the shot."

"I assumed as much." Vussen said. "I shall go first."

Vussen had a hard time properly grasping the pool cue due to hum having less fingers, but he managed as he lined up his first shot with the cue ball. There was a green ball with the number 6 on it in a relatively good position near a pocket.

He pulled the pool cue backwards just like Jones had done, and pushed it forward quickly hitting the cue ball. It hit the green ball, but it sadly didn't manage to get into the pocket.

"It's alright." Jones said. "Nobody gets it their first time."

Suddenly the sound of an explosion soared through the room with a shock wave sweeping everyone off of their feet. Soon after the alarm sounded.

Jone was the first to get up, quickly followed by the elites, and Twilight.

"What the hell was that!" Jones asked.

"The followers of the false prophets must be attacking!" Veren shouted before running off with Vussen.

Twilights heart felt like it was about to bust out of her chest. She felt her body go numb as she didn't know what to do. Before she had Brennan to protect her, but he was gone now. She only had Jones, Anthony, and Terresia, but they never gave her the same support Brennan did.

Jones quickly knocked her out of her frightened state. "Let's get a move on Jane!"

"Right... Yes right!" Twilight said standing up. She had to push all doubts out of her head now. She killed before she can do it again. She could do this, she knew she could, she had to.

The two instantly ran back to their rooms catching up with Anthony in the process who was also making his way towards their room.

They instantly ran inside, opened their lockers and immediately started putting on their armour. Twilights hands were fumbling around in her fear, not quite locking the different pieces of armour together properly before Anthony who was at that point fully suited up came to her aid.

"Thank you." Twilight said as she put on her helmet, her hud flickering to life.

Twilight grabbed from her locker a MA5C assault rifle, and a M6G magnum. She also noticed at the back an old photo of her and her friends from back in Equestria. She quickly grabbed it before anyone could notice, and stuffed it inside her armour.

The three soldiers comms burst alive with the voice of Terresia. "Guys are you alright!" She shouted.

It wasn't often they heard Terresia raise her voice, she was usually very quiet, but that didn't matter right now.

"Ya we're here Terresia, what's going on." Anthony said.

"The covies have started to glass the city. They're also bombarding the base with plasma mortar cannons. I've already been evacuated via pelican."

"Shit then. We'll get out as soon as we can."

"Be quick, because from up here it already looks like they got troops entering the base."

Twilights heart skipped a beat hearing that. With enemies in the base there was no way she could hide, or avoid killing anything.

"Will do." Anthony said before turning back towards Jones and Twilight. "Lets get out of here guys."

"No arguments here." Jones responded.

The three ran out of the room to be faced with two grunts, but Jones and Anthony shot them before Twilight could even think.

Two more jackals came around the corner, Twilight raised her assault rifle to fire, but once again Jones and Anthony were far faster than her.

They moved forward as fast as they could while still being cautious of their surroundings. Twilight looked around to see bodies strewn across the floor, some of them having their entrails ripped out by brutes. It was frightening and it almost made Twilight puke.

"We should be nearing the helipad." Anthony said. "They're bound to be evacuating people via pelican there.

Jane saw a sign on the ceiling with a helipad symbol, with an arrow pointing forward on it. Good, they were going the right way.

Soon they finally got to the helipad outside. They quickly noticed a pelican loading soldiers on it.

A sergeant seemed to notice them and yelled. "You guys! Get your asses over here!"

Twilight felt relived. She was getting out of this, and she didn't have to harm anyone. It was a stroke of good luck that they made it on time, until her ears perked up as she heard a faint sound behind her.

She looked up to see a massive mortar fire of plasma over her. It crashed right down onto the pelican practically melting it, and sending a wave of heat around her.

There it was, her extraction, her chance to get out of there, now gone. Twilight fell to her knees as the fear took over her. "It's gone! Our ride out of here is gone! And now were going to die!"

She had always been so brave before in Equestria. But there she magic, and her very closest friends always around her. She was special in Equestria, but she just realized here and now that as a human she was no more unique than any other human.

"I'm going to die." Twilight said. "This is it for me."

She started to cry right then and there. Tears rolled down her face, and her nose got stuffed as she cried her eyes out before Anthony put his hands on her shoulders.

"Snap out of it!" He yelled. "Were not doo-" But he was interrupted by a needler spike piercing his head sending his limp now dead body onto Twilight.

Twilight screamed as she kicked the body off of her upon instinct.

Jones turned around to be face to face with a brute.

The brute swung it's fist at him, knocking him down. He got up quickly though before pulling out his shotgun and pumped three shells into it's face sending it to the floor.

"Anthony…. he's dead!" Twilight cried out. She never thought anyone would go out like this. No poetic final words, no goodbyes, just one spike to the head and that was it. It shook her to her very core.

"I know." Jones said. "But that doesn't matter right now. We can mourn him later."

"I… I don't know what to do, I'm scared!"

In a rush Jones looked around him outside. Mostly everything was burning. But his eyes diverted to a charred hill right near them. "Look, we can run up there and set off a flare."

He instantly started to fun for the hill, but he stopped for a second to turn around to see Twilight in the fetal position crying.

Jones grabbed her, and pulled her to her feet. "This is no time for crying! Right now we have to focus on getting the hell out of here.

Twilight caught her breath, and nodded in response as she tried to hold back more tears.

He started to run again, this time holding Twilights arms to keep her up with him. Thankfully all her training kept Jane from running out of breath.

The two reached the top of the hill to be faced with the sight of the burning city. Two CCS battlecruisers firing their ventral beams at the city, reducing it to molten glass. Twilight could almost seem to hear the screams of the people trapped in the city being either burning alive or melted. She almost broke down again there.

Jones lit off a red flare, and started to yell over his comms unit trying to get some help. Eventually he stopped, and turned towards Twilight. "We have a pelican inbound on it's way to help us. Don't worry Jane, we'll be safe."

Once again relief washed over her. "Good."

"Don't get too comfortable yet, there still might be som-" But like Anthony he was cut off by an energy beam from a beam rifle going through his body.

He fell to the ground and Twilight rushed over to him. "No no no no. Not you to Jones, don't do this to me!" She yelled, tears once again rolling down her face.

All that she got in response was a few gargles as Jones choked on his own blood.

"No No! Jones don't die!" She screamed.

It was hopeless though as his body soon went limp as blood oozed from his wound.

Jane's breathing got quicker and quicker. The tears suddenly stopped as she turned her attention to a squad of grunts and jackals making their way up the hill.

Strangely though, Jane didn't feel sadness at that moment. All that she felt was anger, pure anger. Suddenly all that mattered to Jane was seeing those Covenant bastards dead.

She stood up with a growl on her face, pulled out her Assault rifle and immediately started firing bullets after bullets at her advisories, all while screaming at the top of her lungs in vengeful rage.

Jane wanted to see them pay, she wanted to see the blood spurt out from their bodies as she slaughtered them.

Soon after there was only one jackal left. Jane pulled the trigger again, but found that she was out of ammo. She threw her assault rifle down to the ground, and picked up Jones's shotgun.

Then she noticed something about the final jakal. It was holding a beam rifle.

Jane's rage hit a peaking point seeing that as she charged forward at it tackling the jackal as it finally managed to get to the top of the hill.

She pointed the shotgun at its chest, and fired shell after shell after shell at it until the shotgun had ran out of ammo, all while screaming. "DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

The jackal was long dead at that point, but it didn't stop Jane from raising the butt of the shotgun and slamming it down onto it's skull. It splattered blood, flesh and brain bits all around until its head wasn't even recognizable as a jackal anymore.

Jane finally managed to catch her breath as she saw the pelican in the distance bringing her out of her fit of fury upon the jackal who took Jones's life.

The pelican landed on top of the hill as Jane stood up and walked towards it, as the cargo bay door opened.

Inside there was an old looking sargent who was now faced to face with a heavily blood stained Jane. Her face was expressionless, except for a cold almost life like stare in her eyes sending chills down the sergeant in the pelicans spine as he saw her standing there looking she'd been through hell and back.

"Are you ok?" He said.

Then she spoke in an emotionless death like tone. "Private Jane Arimondo reporting for duty sir."


	18. Chapter 17

I Have Returned: Chapter 17

Remember My Name

Jane's magic ripped the doors off of their hinges and sent them flying across the room almost hitting princess Luna is the process. She walked into the room and surveyed her surroundings. There was no guards in the room. The only ponies who were there were Luna, Cadence, and her family.

Jane clenched her fist with anger. She knew exactly what Luna was planning on doing, and it pissed her off.

"So you get my family here in hopes that they would convince me to stop." Jane said as she took her helmet off, and held it under her armpit. She received a collective gasp as her family saw her in for the first time in six years. They were practically shocked to see their daughter looking like this. "But It isn't going to change anything, and I will not allowed the opinions of my relatives cloud my judgement."

"Your judgement was clouded when you decided that murdering the entire castle guard at canterlot to get the elements of harmony for your own personal gain was a good idea." Luna said.

"I am using those elements to save an entire species!"

"After your actions yesterday and today I find that very hard to believe."

"Of Course you wouldn't understand!" Jane shouted. "You've never experienced war after all! You have no idea the kind of suffering innocent people have to go through day by day when your species is at the brink of extinction! Where I went six years ago it's a fucking accomplishment just to wake up the next morning and not be dead!"

"I haven't, and I understand that, but that will never make what you did yesterday right Twilight." Luna stated as cold as ever.

"I have a reality check for you Luna. When it comes to war sacrifices have to be made. Anything is preferable to extinction, and all measures no matter what they are have to be done to keep your species alive. Maybe someday you'll learn that Luna. And I told you, my name is Jane, you best remember that."

"I sickens me that anyone could follow such a crude and awful way."

"Well I have a whole army following me. All of them wanting to end the suffering of their species once and for all. Isn't that right Crimson?"

Crimson seemed to hesitate for a moment before finally saying. "Yes captain Arimondo. Anything, and everything has to be done to protect humanity."

Cadence gasped. "You! I trusted you Brennan!"

"I'm sorry, but I am sworn to protect my race."

Jane chuckled. "You see, anybody who faced the same struggles humanity has would agree with what I am trying to accomplish here."

Jane turned towards her family, all of their eyes widening further in shock as they slowly backed away from her.

"Wh- Wh- Who are you… and what have you done with my daughter!" Night light demanded.

"I am right here dad, I'm just older and wiser now."

"No, you're not, my baby girl would never do this."

"You're right dad, I wouldn't have done this six years ago, but a lot has happened in those six years. I've changed, for the better."

At that point her mother spoke up. "Darling please don't do this I'm begging you. Just come home, and things can return to normal!"

"Humph. Not after what I've seen and done in these past years. My sole purpose in life is to fight and kill now, I could never go back to the life I had here, nor would I want to. This is who I am now, a hero for humanity. It's a true shame that even my own family cannot see the good that I am trying to do."

At this point Shining Armour had enough of this. "I refuse to believe that you're my little sister! I know Twilight, and I know that she would never become a monster like you!" He declared as he charged right at her.

"No shining don't!" Luna shouted, but it was too late.

Jane grabbed ahold of her brother with her magic, suspending him in mid air before shooting him back across the room. For his sake though, Jane didn't throw him violently, after all he was her brother. She only threw him hard enough to show him that she was not to be trifled with.

He stumbled and got up, and started to charge at her again. This time though Jane just pulled out her submachine gun and shot him once in the leg to stop him without killing him.

Shining fell to the floor from his injury screaming out in pain. Eventually he looked up at Jane, and said. "My real sister would have never done that to me."

"The fact that I am your real sister is the very reason why I didn't just kill you."

Her mother, and father once again backed away in fear as Jane gave them a cold stare warning them to not do what Shining just did.

"You monster!" Cadence shouted. "That is your brother, and my husband!"

"I do what I have to do." Jane rebutted. "Now give me those elements or else I'll have to hurt more of you!"

"You wouldn't!"

"I wouldn't want to kill any of you, but I will if I have to. After all I already have tons of blood on my hands from the past few years. A few more deaths on my counter would almost be meaningless."

Suddenly she felt the cold barrel of a gun rest against her head. She knew exactly who it was.

"There is going to be no more killing here." Crimson said as he pushed the barrel of his assault rifle harder onto her head.

Jane laughed out loud. She knew Crimson was going to do this the instant he came to her acting like he changed his mind. Crimson wasn't the type of person to change his view on something so easily, so Jane knew that he intended on betraying her. "I had a feeling you would do this."

"Well you thought right then." He said as he raised his rifle to hit her over the head.

Sadly for Crimson though Jane was to quick as she turned around and fired a magical blast right at his chest sending him flying out of the room and onto the wall of the hallway outside.

Luna took her chance right then and there while Jane's back was turned as she fired a magical beam at Jane sending her right next to Crimson.

Jane grunted, and got up as furry started to overcome her. Her body ached all over, and her hair was burnt a bit. She looked up and shot Luna an icy glare before charging at her.

Luna fired a few magic bolts, but Jane dodged them while running towards Luna, picking up and putting on her helmet on the way.

Once Jane got close Luna pulled up a magic barrier, but it was shattered by a few bullets from Jane's submachine gun.

Jane slammed into Luna with all of her might sending the two smashing through the Crystal throne.

The furious Spartan pinned down Luna to the floor, and raising her fist to deliver the final blow. She slammed her fist down, but Luna moved her head out of the way Just in time before Jane's fist hit the floor leaving a sizable dent.

Jane saw Luna's horn flared to life, but before she could react, the Lunar goddess shot another bolt at her, knocking Jane off.

She stumbled back a few paces before her energy shields recharged. Luna's magic blasts were strong, but they weren't enough to seriously damage her armour.

With a grunt Jane focused her attention back to Luna who was struggling to get up now.

"I'm going to give you one more Chance Luna. Give me the elements, and I'll be on my merry way, or I'll kill you and take them myself." Jane stated as plain and cold as ever.

"Nooo!" Cadence screamed as she tacked Jane, the force of it plowing them through a nearby window into the air.

Jane was free falling now as Cadence kicked the Spartan off before extending her wings to float down.

Jane attempted to grab onto Cadence like she did with Luna the other day, but at that point Jane had fallen too far down. She turned her body around as the ground came closer and closer. Her stabilizers only had a certain amount of fuel in them so she would have to time it just right.

"Roland. I think you know what to do." Jane said.

"Activate your stabilizers at just the right time to not kill you I take it?"

"Just shut up and do it."

"Very well then captain."

The ground moved closer and closer to her, she wasn't sure if she was going to make it until Roland finally activated her thrusters slowing her down, but not quite enough as Jane slammed into the ground breaking the Crystal road she landed into, and sending Jane falling into a Crystal cavern.

She landed with a loud splash into some water. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, but she ignored it as she swam her way to the underground shore.

"Dammit Roland, I told you to activate them at the right time to not kill me!" Jane exclaimed.

"Well you're alive now aren't you? This was the best I could do Jane, I'm an A.I. I can't break the laws of physics. Then again the very existence of this planet does, but I digress."

"This is going to hurt for weeks."

"Well it's about to hurt more because we have trouble coming."

A blip on Jane's head up display alerted her to Princess Cadence flying down the cavern horn charged. The pink princess fire a few lasers, but Jane rolled out of the way before getting up.

Cadence landed right next to her. "You are not my sister in law. I will never believe you are. The real Twilight is still somewhere out there, and I know it. You are nothing more than an imposter!"

"If that's what you choose to believe then so be it!" Jane yelled as she delivered a swift kick to Cadences face, knocking the alicorn back and drawing blood from her face.

Cadence must have lost her stance as she stumbled around for a bit in a daze from Jane's kick. With the opportunity at hand Jane threw a punch Cadences face breaking a few of the alicorns teeth in the process.

Normally she would have been at least somewhat hesitant about hurting someone she used to call family, pony or not, but her adrenaline put all of those thoughts out of her head. The only thoughts running through Jane's head was kill or be killed.

On one of the walls in the cavern Jane noticed a long crystal spike protruding from the wall. Jane knew what she had to do at that point.

Jane backed up a bit while Cadence was still in her daze, before sprinting full force at her and activating her thruster giving the alicorn a full on spartan charge.

The force from Jane's impact sent Cadence right into the spike, impaling her once sister in law. Cadence squealed and gasped her air in her pain as Jane walked up to her.

"Why Twilight..." Cadence managed to blurt out.

"For humanity." Jane said. "And like I said, my name is Jane."

She looked down at Cadences body, blood was coming out in spurts from the wound of the spike. Jane couldn't even begin to imagine the pain Cadence must have been going through.

Tears were running from Cadences face as the near dead alicorn whimpered. A rush of sorrow flooded Jane, as she put her hands on Cadences head.

"Don't worry, I'll end your suffering." Jane said trying to be as sincere as possible before snapping Cadences neak, ending the Princess of Love's life. A mercy kill.

Jane even felt a tear roll down her face seeing Cadence like this.

"I take it you two were close?" Roland asked.

"Yes, she was my sister in law."

"That must be hard."

"It doesn't matter now, I did what I had to do, and I'll feel no shame in it."

"I've never seen you mercy kill an opponent before."

"She took care of me as a child, she didn't deserve to suffer."

Jane started to think of a way in which she could get out of the cavern. From the looks of it she could climb the crystals on the wall and emerge through the hole she made when she crashed through. But then she noticed a small crystal poking out from the ground on the other side of the cavern. The strange thing though was that it was glowing a light radiant pink light.

Jane walked over to it and inspected it, until she noticed a small port in it.

"Is that what I think it is?" Roland asked.

"Well lets find out." Jane replied pulling out Roland, and attempting to insert him into the port.

It worked! And Rolands holographic form quickly came up.

"And batta boom, I'm here. Just let me analyze what data we have here."

Jane stood around waiting for Roland to finish his task. It was taking him a few minutes which was odd considering he was an A.I. A few minutes for them was like a few days for a human.

"Anything yet?" She asked.

"Something. I can't make out much of it, but the word Didact seems to come up a lot here."

"Didact! No that can't be true."

"The name appears quite often. I've also found a message here, but I can only translate some of it, the rest of it is either language we don't understand yet, or is too damaged to make out what it says."

"What can you decipher?"

"The first bit says 'this is my gift to you my faith-'."

"Hmm, maybe it's addressing a faithful follower of whoever wrote this." Jane contemplated. "What else can you get from it?"

"Nothing much until near the end where it says 'remember never let them grow technologically, and keep them away from the filthy humans at all costs'. And that's about all I can get."

"Wait so someone here is purposely trying to keep pony kind from achieving any kind of technology at all?" Now that Jane thought about it, Equestria hasn't had any sort of technological change at all from what she could tell from the history text books. Whoever was doing this, was succeeding.

"I guess so. What I'm more worried about though is the statement about keeping this place hidden from humanity. I guess it explains why this star system was hidden from us until we got close."

"What do you mean Roland."

"I was spying on Pearl right before the crash happened, Apparently according to her this solar system didn't appear on her radar before we got close to it."

"That explains a lot. And me going near Equestria once again despite the fact that we were in slipspace must have activated my magic sending us back into real space in orbit around Equestria."

"That's the only reason I could guess."

However there was one more burning question in Jane's mind."Still though, if there is someone here trying to keep pony kind away from humanity, why haven't they shown up yet?"

"I have no ide-. Wait I'm getting a bunch of new data here."

"What kind of data."

"I don't know it's coming in so fast I can't process it."

And suddenly Jane eyes were blinded by a flash of light. When at last her pupils adjusted, and the garling light died down she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Everything that was once Crystal around her, was now all Forerunner structures all glowing pink the same pink that Jane saw the prometheans had when she reviewed the security footage of last nights attacks.

"Roland what the hell just happened?"

"I have no idea Captain! A surge of data came though, then it just happened. I don't know how to explain it."

Right at that moment Jane heard a voice from above her. "Captain you down there?!" The voice asked. It must have been one of the soldiers who saw her down there.

"Yes I'm here. What going on up there?" Jane responded.

"It's best that you see for yourself." He yelled back, throwing a rope ladder down.

Jane tugged at the ladder for a second to make sure that it was sturdy before she grabbed Roland out of the port, and started to climb.

She kept on making her way further and further, until she finally reached the top, and exited the cavern.

What Jane came face to face with as she stood up out of the hole was even more shocking. The Crystal tower was now a Forerunner Dreadnought ship…

UNSC INFINITY

Palmer sat down as her new friends recounted stories from each of their pasts. She learned all kinds of crazy things such as what cutie marks were, and how they all earned theirs, to stories about their adventures together.

It was nice and calm for once for Sarah to just sit down for once and just casually listen to others that she could call friends. Sure they were ponies, but they accepted her for who she was. As of right now Pinkie Pie was telling Sarah how they all defeated nightmare moon

"And then using the elements of harmony we blasted all of the evil out of Nightmare Moon, and then she became Princess Luna!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly while making sound effects with her mouth.

"So how did you guys activate those elements?" Palmer asked.

"It was easy peasy." Pinkie said with a wave of the hoof. "We used the magic of friendship!"

"The what?"

Rarity cleared her throat, and decided to tell Palmer herself rather than let pinkie continue before the party pony gave Sarah a heart attack with all of her energy. "Our friendship is so strong that it creates a magical bond between us that's stronger than anything else. Each of us represents a different element of the core foundation of friendship."

"I don't quite understand."

"Me neither darling, but your 'captain'." Rarity said putting a dark emphasis on captain. "Studied it for many years before she abandoned us."

The wheels in Palmers head started to turn. Captain Jane Arimondo studying the magic of friendship. The thought was almost laughable if she didn't hear it from the mouth of one of Jane's former friends. Still though 'the magic of friendship' it was an interesting concept, but one that made her kind of giddy inside. It sounded like a wonderful thing….


	19. Chapter 18

I Have Returned Chapter 18:

A Little Boy

4 years ago…

Twilight checked her new BR85 Heavy Barrel Service rife to make sure that it was in perfect condition. Everything had to be in working order. She unloaded the clip, and put the magazine back in again one last time, before loading in a bullet to the chamber of the gun.

She couldn't go back now, her weapon was locked, loaded, and ready for combat, and so was she.

Recently a civil war in a civilian space station designed for living in broke out. They were cut off from supplies during the attack on earth, and some of them believed that the UNSC had abandoned them. Soon people grouped together in an anti UNSC faction and took control over the station.

Of course after the war we sent help to the station, but we were too late as the faction refused help in their hatred of the UNSC, and even threatened us.

Now their job was to save as many Civilians not associated with the faction as possible. But the faction didn't back down as they planted a bomb in the station, and rigged it to blow on a countdown timer.

There was already a team working on the bomb, but Jane's job was to escort as many citizens as possible to safety. And now she was waiting patiently in the bridge of a UNSC Corvette heading towards the station.

The strange thing was though that they specifically asked for her to be a part of the mission. Why? And they didn't let her have access to most of the ship, just a few rooms to let her equip herself.

It was odd having them limit her so much. Were they hiding anything? Did they not trust her? They must have trusted her somewhat, they even gave her ODST armour to use for this mission alone.

Twilight had a feeling that she knew why they were keeping things from her. As she looked at the other soldiers in the room who were also armoured up. She counted three ODST's, and even a Spartan. All of them, they all had the Office of Naval intelligence logo on them.

Twilight had heard rumors about ONI before, but she didn't know if any of them were true, but for now she'd keep her mouth shut. If what she heard about ONI was true, then these people must have known everything about her, other than the fact that she used to be a pony, but who knew? This was the infamous ONI after all.

In the end though, Twilight highly doubted that they knew every single detail of her life, but one thing was for sure though, she didn't know much about them. All that Jane knew about them was their names, basic info she got from small talk, and what they called their team. Kilo-Five.

"You okay there Jane?" One of the ODST's asked. His name was Vaz Beloi, a russian guy with a crude scar running down his jaw that made him look scary. But what she had seen so far, Vaz seemed like a very nice person despite his looks.

"Ya a little nervous." She said back.

Out of nowhere Twilight heard a disembodied voice flood the room. "Aww she's scared of the big bad ODST's and Spartan." It said before a holographic blue cube manifested before her very eyes causing Twilight to flinch. It was an A.I.

"I don't think we've met before." Jane said.

"Oh god, how terribly sorry I am. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm BB, the ships magnificent A.I."

"Jane Arimondo. Nice to meet you."

It was strange having that roll off of her tongue like that. After being with humanity for two years now, referring to herself as Jane came as almost instant as this point. It was definitely a habit she'd have to try and get rid of once she came back to Equestria.

"Don't mind him, he likes to pop up unannounced every once in awhile." Said one of the other ODST's. A british man named Malcolm Geffen, but from what Twilight could tell, everyone just called him mall. "You get used to bloke after a while."

"Oh shut up Mal, you love my antics and know it." BB responded.

The Spartan whose name was Naomi put a hand on Twilights shoulder. "Don't be afraid. We're all pretty friendly here."

Hearing Naromi talk was quite opposite of what the common view of spartans was. She expected them be heroic inspirational beings of wonder, but from what Jane had seen of Naomi so far, she just seemed like a relatively quiet, but kind individual. She had almost platinum blond hair, and her face was very pale.

"I know, but my nerves have a mind of their own."

The door to the bridge slip open, and in came her current commanding officer. Admiral Serin Osman.

Jane hadn't really had much of a chance to talk to Osman, but Twilight could feel that she radiated with power, and authority.

"Alright Kilo-5 listen up." Osman said turning her head towards Twilight. "Or in this case Kilo-6"

"So what's the plan?" The last ODST asked. Her name was Lian Devereaux, a chinese Canadian.

"B.B. Get the plan up."

The room went dark as a holographic display of the space station appeared. The base of the station was a hexagonal shape, but it had multiple extensions protruding out of it.

"There you go captain. I worked really hard on it. Maybe Maggie will give me a gold star on it." BB joked.

"Thank you BB." Osman said as one of the sections of the station turned red. "This right here is section G of the station. Our goal is to move as many civilians as possible to it. The section is designed to be able to detach from the rest of the station in case of emergency. Jane and Mal will be given the responsibility of escorting the citizens to section G. Vaz and Naomi on the other hand will try to defuse the bomb in the stations head office with the aid of BB. Sadly though this station has its own A.I. that the faction has corrupted, so it won't be a walk in the park for even BB."

"Well, we'll just see about that. You know me, I'm a miracle worker."

"I know BB, but in the event that we can defuse the bomb, Jane and Vaz will be ordered to disconnect section G from the rest of the station, and get it to a minimal safe distance. Lastly Deveraux will stand by in Tart-Cart incase you guns need to bang out in a hurry. Is there any Questions?"

Jane looked around. Nobody seemed to be asking anything. It must have been clear for all of them, but after all, the plan was simple, and she had the easiest part of it.

Osman continued. "What about you Jane? Is there anything you need clarification on?"

"Sir no sir. My role is clear."

"Good then. We'll be coming out of slip in about five minutes, so get ready."

Twilight and the others exited the bridge, and made their way to the hanger, save for Naomi who went to get a fragment of BB. It felt odd for Twilight to be around them like this. They all looked like they knew each other so well, and here she was walking alongside of them. She felt so out of place, but they must have gotten on this mission for a reason, and Twilight bet that they probably know why.

"So why was I chosen for this mission. If you don't mind me asking."

Vaz turned his head around, and looked at her as if he was contemplating on whether to say something, before Mal spoke up in his place. "We're down one man for this mission, so we picked you at random as a replacement."

Twilight felt that this was a lie, and her suspensions were supported when Vaz shot a glare to Mal, almost as if he wanted to tell her the truth, but Mal didn't want him to.

"Ok then. Simple enough." Twilight lied. It was best to just go along with this for now. They'd reveal their true reasons sooner or later.

They entered a hanger where there was two pelicans. One called Tart-Cart, and the other one called Bogof. They all stepped inside Tart-Cart, and sat down except for Devereaux who stepped into the cockpit.

Twilight placed her rifle on her back, then strapped in, and then put her hair in a bun before she placed her brand new helmet on top of her head, her brand new head up display coming online.

Jane felt a strange shake beneath her feet, like a subway train stopping. They must have come out of slipspace.

Soon after Naomi returned, and sat down as well before Devereaux finally closed the cargo bay door, and took off.

Tart-Cart left the hanger. Twilight leaned forward in her chair till she could just barely see into the cockpit and out the window. She could just faintly see the station, orbiting a massive gas giant as Tart Cart drew closer.

Eventually they got close enough to the station for Twilight to make out the words 'SECTION G' on the hull of part of the station.

"You ready?" Mal asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Good, but remember, these blokes are human too. It's not the same as shooting covies."

Twilights heart sank for a moment. She hadn't really thought of it at this point, but she was going to be killing humans this time. It didn't matter though, killing an alien, and killing a human were one in the same thing. They're both living beings, and is she could take the life of a covie, taking the life of a human should be no different.

"I know sir. In the end it's all the same. You're still taking a life."

"Good point, but it's kinda nice not having to think before you pull the trigger though when it comes to shooting a covie bastard."

It was true. When you saw an alien, you shot it, you didn't think about who it was, or whether it was on your side. It was strange noticing that. These days Twilight felt little remorse in killing. It was just a job at this point, and something that she had gotten used to. Was it a good thing or a bad thing though?

Twilight looked once again outside at the station as they got close now. It seemed so peaceful outside, but she knew that hell was awaiting her when she got in.

Tart-Cart slowly entered a hanger in section G, and landed.

"Okay, we have forty minutes until the bomb blows. That doesn't give us much time, but thankfully the station is small." BB said through Naomi's armour.

The cargo bay door hissed open as Twilight unbuckled herself and rushed out of Tart Cart with Mal.

Behind them were Vaz, and Naomi who immediately started to head in the other direction.

Twilights comms lit up from an incoming transmission from Osman. "Get a move on. The faction has too much control over most of the sections, but they don't have much of a presence over sections E, and F, so we can probably save some people from there."

"What about the other sections?" Twilight asked.

"It's too late for them."

Twilight wanted to protest that, but doing so would waste time she had to save as many people as possible. If she had learned one thing in the two years she had been in the military, it was take what you can get.

"Sir yes sir." Twilight responded.

Twilight, and Mal instantly started running, as they didn't want to waste any time.

They sprinted out of the hanger, and into a room where dozens of people were crowded. Each one of them looking like refugees struggling to survive. There were other UNSC personnel there as well.

Sadly though, the only other UNSC vessel that was able to make it to the station on time was another small one, and didn't have enough room to fit very many people on it.

Twilight, and Mal didn't have any time to waste though as they made their way through the crowd. It seemed as though the entire section was filled to the brim with people. Twilight wondered herself if there was even that many people to save from the other sections.

Eventually the ODST, and marine made their way to the door separating section G from section F, which was the only section connected to section G. It was a huge blast door that was currently open. Anti faction soldiers, and UNSC marines were hunkered down there behind sandbags, and barriers ready at a moments notice in case of attack.

One person there who seemed to be the commanding officer noticed Twilight, and Mal.

"Thank god, finally some damn back up" He said.

"Actually were here to grab any civilians we can from the other sections." Twilight responded.

"Very well then. We do got most of the citizens who are against the faction here, but there is bound to be some more out there."

This time Mal spoke up. "Okay then, but be sure to have this place prepared to detach. The bomb will be going off soon, and we don't know if we can detonate it."

"Yes I know. I was informed of the plan from the CO of the ship that just arrived. I assume you guys are from it?"

"Yes, we are."

"Then get a move on."

The two soldiers quickly started to sprint into the other section. They didn't have much time, so they split up to cover the thankfully small section faster.

Twilight ended soon ended up in a dimly lit room. She initially saw nothing, until she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.

"Hello, is anyone there? I am a UNSC soldier. I am here to bring you to safety." Twilight announced.

Out from under a bench she saw a head poke out. It was a child, a young indian boy looking to be no more than six or seven years old.

Trying to be friendly she holstered her weapon and carefully approached the child.

Twilight got up close to him, took of her helmet, and knelt down in order to show him that she meant no harm at all.

"Hey there. What's your name?" She said, putting on a smile.

The boy stood there for a second, motionless before he finally responded. "Chamdi…"

"Chamdi. That's a really nice name. My name is Jane Arimondo, I'm a soldier."

"You're not one of those mean soldiers are you?"

"No, I'm not. I'm here to rescue you." Twilight said, giving Chamdi another reassuring smile.

Suddenly Chamdi's eyes widened with fear. "Look out!" He yelled.

Twilight instantly turned around to be faced to face with a man holding a small pistol. He swiped it at her, hoping for a quick kill and silent kill, but Jane ducked out of they way.

Jane gave him a quick punch in the face knocking him back, before pulling out her BR85, and wasting him with a few rounds.

When the dust settled, Jane's unknown assailant was on the flood dead. She guessed that he must have been from the faction.

Twilight turned herself back around to find that Chamdi was long gone.

"Chamdi!" Twilight yelled out, but she got no response. He must have ran for it, when Twilights attacker came.

All went silent for a moment, until Twilights coms lit up. "Jane this is Vaz. BB can't defuse the bomb, he's been locked out. Get ready to detach section G, we'll be there momentarily."

"Okay. Mal and I have been separated though, so contact him too."

"Will do. Vaz out."

Twilight grabbed her helmet, and burst into a sprint back to section G, meeting up with Mal on the way. The two got back to the blast doors, which were now unguarded as the troopers probably went to prepare the section to detach.

"You wait here for Vaz, and Naomi." Mal said. "I'll head up and help the blokes in charge of getting this section out of here. You be on standby though, I'll radio you in when it's time to close the blast doors, which will be your job.

"Got it."

Mal ran past her, deeper into section G. Soon after, Vaz and Naomi caught up with her.

"Where's Mal?" Vaz asked.

"Section G's control room I assume. I'm waiting her for orders to close the blast doors, until then I'm going to be waiting for any more civilians."

"Okay he said." Before the two went after Mal.

A few more minutes passed, until she saw from the other side of the hallway Chamdi.

She felt relieved for a moment knowing that he would be ok as the boy started to run, Until Mal contacted her through her com unit.

"Jane close the door, now!"

Twilight froze up for a second. Chamdi was still on the other side trying to make his way to section G. The hallway was a long one, and he still had a decent bit to go.

"What are you waiting for close them!" Mal barked.

Twilight couldn't respond, her heart was racing, and she didn't know what to do as Chamdi got closer.

"JANE NOW!" Mal yelled.

Without thinking Jane closed her eyes, and slammed her fist down onto the button to close the doors. She heard them close, and felt section G propel itself away from the rest of the station.

Twilight opened her eye, and looked around her. Chamdi wasn't there, he didn't make it in time.

She rushed to a nearby window, and saw the station moving farther, and farther away from her, until finally blew. The resulting explosion shaking section G, damaging it's outer hull.

Twilight fell to her knees in despair. She could of saved him. All that she needed to do was run out there, and grab him. She was after all a faster runner. But she didn't think.

Jane took off her helmet as Tears ran down her face. He was just a boy, and thanks to her, his life had ended.

Her coms lit up again. She didn't have her helmet on, but she could still hear it.

"Thank god. If you took one second longer, we would have been blown to smithereens." Mal said over the coms unit.

Twilight wiped the tears off her face, put her helmet on and responded. "Ya, I know." She said in a monotone voice.

Twilight picked herself up, and slowly made her way into section.

She got into what seemed to be the main area filled with people who all seemed to be relived. Then she an indian man shuffling through the crowd. Her heart instantly sank once again.

"Has anyone seen my son!?" He yelled over the crowd. "His name is Chamdi!" He continued holding up a photo of Chamdi.

Twilight wanted to go up to him, and tell him what had happened, but she felt far too ashamed of herself. Instead she burst into tears again, and entered a nearby bathroom in shame.

She ripped of her helmet once again, and looked at her crying self in the mirror. She couldn't even look at herself at this point as she punched the mirror shattering it.

Eventually she slumped down onto the floor crying. Why? Why did horrible things had to keep on happening to humans. We were constantly in a state of war. What did we do to deserve all of this pain and suffering?

Then Jane thought of Equestria. They had everything. Peace, safety, and harmony. What did they do to deserve it. Absolutely Nothing. All while humans fought day after day after day for the peace that we never would get. She hated to admit it, especially since she was a pony once, but it made her angry inside seeing all of the pain and suffering that humanity went through, while they got everything.

Jane eventually composed herself, and managed to stop crying. She still felt depressed though.

She left the bathroom with her head held low. She noticed a man sitting down on the floor, leaning his back onto a wall. He was drinking a bottle of whisky.

Jane sat down next to him.

"Can you share any of that?" Jane asked. "I could really use a drink right now."

Jane wasn't a drinking person, the taste of alcohol usually disgusted her, but right now she needed it more than ever.

The man seemed to contemplate it for a second, before handing the whisky to her. "Anything for a soldier." He said. "After all you guys just saved us."

Jane took a rather large drink out of the bottle before handing it back to him. "Not all of us." She said. "Not all of us..."

Crystal Empire, Present day

Jane looked upon the Forerunner Dreadnought ship towering above her. The Spartan 4 team staring up at it in awe with her.

"That's one big ass ship." A spartan in gray armour said.

Just then Roland talked to Jane. "That must have been what the tower was all along."

"You're right." Jane responded.

"Thank you sir." The Spartan said. Thinking Jane was responding to him.

Jane had a lot of questions right now, but she had to push them out of her mind. Luna and the others were still up there, and she had to take care of them.

She turned towards the Team of Spartans. "Spartans, what is your fireteam?"

"Fireteam Wolf sir!" The same spartan responded. He was wearing his own unique set of armour, which meant that he must be the fireteam leader.

"What is your name Fireteam leader?"

"Sir, my name is Devon."

"Well Deven I have a task for us."

"What is it sir?"

"Up in that ship there is Enemies of humanity who want to keep the key to our salvation away from us. We have to arrest them. Sadly Fireteam Crimson leader has chosen to emphasize with them, and has committed an act of treason, we'll have to arrest him too."

"Sir yes sir!"

Jane got into a nearby troop transport warthog, and started to drive with Fireteam Wolf to the former Crystal tower.

She got there soon, and thankfully for Jane, all of the entrances were the same as before. They all got out of the warthog, and entered the ship.

Once again the layout was the same as Jane was easily able to make her way to the throne room once again encountering little resistance on the way.

There she came face to face with Luna, Crimson, and Shining armour. Her mom and dad though, were nowhere to be found. Jane guessed that they must have scurried away.

"You are all under arrest by the UNSC!" Devon said. "Stand down, and we can do this peacefully.

Shining Armour on the other hand ignored him, her focus seemingly on Jane. "Where is Cadence, what have you done with her!"

Shining looked down onto the floor. Killing Cadence was not something that she enjoyed.

"You didn't!" Shining shouted. "You couldn't have!"

"I'm sorry Shining, I tried to make it as quick as possible."

"You, how could you!" He said, bursting into tears.

"Jane what the hell! You two were related!" Crimson shouted in anger.

"I didn't want to, trust me."

"I'm through with trusting you Jane!"

Devon intervened. "Quiet traitor!"

At this moment Luna snapped. "I am through with this! You've betrayed your people Twilight. You are now an enemy to Equestria, you have become the very thing you once protected us from." Luna said as she fired a bolt of magic at Jane.

Jane quickly evaded it though before her and Fireteam Wolf ran in.

Two members of wolf were able to restrain Crimson, and two others restrained Shining Armour, leaving Luna to Jane.

Luna shot another bolt at Jane, which once again missed. Before she could fire off another though, Jane threw a swift punch to Luna's horn cracking it and making the Lunar Princess scream out in agony as she fell to the floor.

It would take a long time for Luna's horn to heal, which was good. Luna was no longer a problem.

"You will never get away with this." Luna managed to say. "I am Equestria's current sole princess, and will not stand for this."

"No you're not Luna. You are incapacitated, and therefore making you unfit for your royal duties. Leaving me as Equestria's sole ruler."

"No… You can't"

"Yes I can. And as my first act as Equestria's one and only leader, I declare this planet as a Colony of the United Nations Space Command, and the human race. This world will never belong to you again."

Luna then passed out to what Jane assumed was exhaustion. Jane knew that Luna would be okay though, and with her horn cracked, she posed no threat anymore.

Jane motioned Devon to take her away, which he did leaving Jane alone in the throne room.

She noticed on the side of the now Forerunner throne Fluttershy's saddle bag. Jane picked it up and opened it. There they were, the elements of harmony.

A large grin formed on Jane's face, she finally had them, the answer to all of Humanity's problems.

She turned her attention to the nearby windows which she walked up to.

There outside she saw crystal ponies emerging from their homes trying to combat the far superior human soldiers. Sadly their resistance meant that the soldiers had permission to kill them, which they did.

Jane looked across the entire city, it was burning from all of the fighting and explosions going on. None of that mattered though, the ponies choose to resist, they sealed their own fate. All that was important right now was that Jane was victorious.

Equestria, a planet filled with natural resources, and mystery. Now she knew that it was also filled with Forerunner secrets below its surface, and it all belonged to the human race.


	20. Chapter 19

I Have Returned Chapter 19:

New World Order

The pelican soared through the bright blue skies above canterlot. It was midday now, and ponies of all different kinds were bustling in the streets completely oblivious of the events that had transpired in both the castle, and the Crystal empire.

For as of now life was simple for those ponies. Eat, sleep, work, converse with friends and loved ones. Today for most started off like most others. Marketplaces were alive, and crowded with ponies coming back and forth to buy whatever goods they needed for the coming week. Others were working in shops, offices, restaurants, or in the mansions of the rich nobles who held most of the city's wealth.

Indeed Canterlot was a busy city. After all, it was Equestria's capital, and most populous city. It was also Equestria's most beautiful city, with flowers all around, statues showing off some of the countries greatest nobles, and buildings which were considered by most to be architectural masterpieces.

Yes, it was a normal day, until the blaring engine of the pelican roared over the city as it headed towards Canterlot Castle, causing most ponies to look up at it, distracting them from their daily routines.

As if that wasn't frightening enough, soon strange bipedal beings clad in fearsome metal armour started to march through the City. Most cowered behind vending stalls, or ran into their homes, others were too frightened to move at the on coming invaders.

The kept on marching, and marching until they came upon the Castle itself before stopping, as if they were waiting for something.

Jane observed this from high above the sky in the cockpit of the pelican until the touched down upon the courtyard of the castle.

"Jane do you really have to do this?" Roland asked. "You attacked this place once, do you really need to do it again."

"We need to show our presence, and our might right now. I used to be a ruler of this place, so I'll use my power to establish that this planet belongs to the UNSC now."

"I just think that there's been enough bloodshed for today."

"Don't worry, if things go as planned, there won't be any bloodshed. By the way, most of you is still in the INFINITY correct?"

"Yes, I only have a fragment down here. My core still resides in the ship."

"Good, how are the repairs doing?"

"Engines are operating at minimal capacity. Coms are still down, and so is the slipspace drive. The huragok, sure have a handful."

"Good. Bring the ship down here. We'll scare the ever living shit out of the ponies. That alone will stop any of them from thinking of rebelling against us."

"Right away captain."

"What about Pearl? How is she doing?"

"Her rampancy is getting worse. It's starting to get hard to lock her out of INFINITy's systems, but I'm managing."

"Very well then. Keep me posted." Jane said as she exited the pelican, leaving her helmet, and thus roland behind. This was something that she needed to do alone.

A small team of unicron guards rushed out of the Castle with their horns lit up, until they saw who was there. They knew who she was.

"Stand down guards, princesses orders." Jane commanded, giving them all a deep glare in the process.

Their legs started to tremble as they backed off, and unit their horns.

"Yes your highness." They all said in unision.

Jane was a bit surprised to see that there were still guards at the castle, especially after what she had done the other day.

Out from the Castle door though came another guard. This one though, she knew all too well. His blue mane, his orange coat. Yes, it was him, Flash Sentry. Jane remember how she used to crush on him so much back when she was a pony. The thought of it disgusted her now.

He stopped dead in his tracks the moment he noticed her, his jaw almost hitting the floor.

"Flash Sentry, it's been a long time." Jane said, making her voice sound as cold, and threatening as she could.

"Princ…. Princess Twilight is that you!"

"Yes, and I am here regarding matters concerning Equestria's future."

His face lit up with excitement. "I knew you would come back! I have missed you so much Twilight! Sadly though, the other princesses are not here right now. We believe they are kidnapped, Celestia a few days ago, and Luna yesterday during an attack on the castle."

So that explained why Celestia wasn't present that day, but who would be able to kidnap the all powerful Celestia? No, that didn't matter right now. Actually it was a positive thing, it meant that her job right now would be a lot easier.

"Trust me I am well aware of the attacks."

"Okay." He said scratching the back of his head, while looking up and down her new body. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you?"

"That is none of your concern. Who is the current captain of the guard? I must speak with him."

"Actually that's me Twilight, I'm the captain."

Jane gritted her teeth, she hated that name.

"Don't call me that!" She shouted, sending Flash staggering back a few paces. "Refer to me as sir from now on, and get the remaining Royal Guard to gather in the foyer. Evacuate everyone else."

"Umm yes Twi- I mean yes sir, I'll get right on that." He said before scurrying away.

Jane watched as he ran into the castle like a scared rodent. It was absolutely pathetic that she once had romantic feelings towards that little yellow brat, nevertheless, Jane couldn't let that distract her.

With a deathly glare Jane entered the Castle foyer. It was a lovely place, banners of the Equestrian sun crest adorned the walls. A large fountain of of Princess Celestia stood right in the middle of the room spouting water, and a large staircase was at the other side of the room.

Above Jane there was a massive window on the roof letting the sun in, and giving a view of the Castles towers.

Maids, butlers, common workers, and tourists all stopped upon seeing the returning princess. Jane could almost feel the fear radiating off of them.

"All of you!" Jane proclaimed. "Unless you are not a guard, leave this place at once!"

In a frightened mess Ponies started panicking and running for the nearest exit, or hiding spot.

Jane took notice of all of the ponies choosing to hide instead of run.

"Very well then! If you choose to say, that is your own risk!" Jane continued before she continued onward.

She walked up the massive flight of stairs passing by multiple ponies fleeing. It was a sight to behold seeing them run for their lives. This palace no longer belonged to them.

Jane turned into a massive hallway leading to the throne room in which she confronted Luna and her old friends just the other day.

She walked up to the massive doors that were already opened a tiny bit. Jane peered inside so she could see what was going on without her being seen.

Inside the throne room was cluttered with angry nobles running their mouths off at one of Celestia's personal assistants named Ink splatter. He was a middle aged grey pony with a black mane, and a cutie mark of a quill dipped in ink.

He used to interact with Jane a lot when she was just a child, always making sure she was using her manners, and was doing her work. Not that he had to do much to get Jane working back in those days. After all, more work meant more reading.

"I am sorry!" He shouted over the crowd. "But the princesses are not here. I do not know why, but until they return I am in charge. One any of the princesses are back, power will go back to them. As of right now without them, we are in a crisis state of alert, which means all funding must go to finding them and not to your families."

"This is preposterous!" Prince Blueblood responded. "I want my money!"

Jane wanted to scoff at the scene before her. All of those greedy nobles clammering for money and power. Without Celestia there, they had none though, and Jane was about to make sure that they wouldn't get it back.

With a push of her arms the doors opened, revealing her to all of the ponies in the room.

"Actually a princess is here." Jane declared as she entered the room.

Everypony in the room paused for a moment staring at Jane. She was covered almost completely in armour which was covered in dirt. Her hair was burnt, but still recognizable as hers.

"Is that who I think it is?" Ink Splatter said.

"Yes it is I Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I have Returned."

"Oh thank Celestia! What has happened to you!"

"A lot over the past six years, but I'm back now."

Jane walked through the crowd of nobles, all of them parting until she was face to face with the throne. She turned around, and sat down on it, placing her hands on the arm rests made out of a beautiful turquoise marble.

"It is so wonderful to have you back your highness." Ink splatter said, bowing down.

As soon as he did that the nobles bowed down as well hoping that showing her some affection would help their greedy power hungry cause.

"Yes it is, and a lot of things are going to change around here now that I am in charge."

"Wait, what about the other princesses?"

"Luna is incapacitated and therefore unfit to rule, Cadence is dead, and Celestia is kidnapped as far as I know."

A sea of mummers flowed throughout the room until Jane slammed her fist down onto the armrest silencing everyone, and cracking the marble.

"Princess Twilight, surely you jest?" Said Ink Splatter. "I am aware of Celestia's kidnapping, as for the others I have no clue what happened to them."

"I do not jest, I am being as honest as ever. I was the one responsible for Luna's injuries, and I was the one who took Cadences life. This leaves me as Equestria's sole ruler!"

Blueblood seemed to spring up at hearing this with a massive fake smile. "Well then I for one welcome our new overlord. My family line will surely support you."

Jane wanted to punch him right then and there. His false words were a deplorable attempt to flatter her in order to gain money and power for his family line. While a good punch to the face would be satisfying, what Jane was about to say would hurt far more for the ignorant childish prince than any physical violence could do.

"Actually that's not going to happen."

"What do you mean your highness?"

"As you all have noticed, I am not exactly a pony anymore. My current race will replace your form a government with ours."

"I don't see why that's a problem?" He said, forcing another fake smile.

"My people do not believe in monarchies. Therefore the new Equestria will not have one. Which means there will no more nobles or Royal families. All of you are now no more special than a regular pony."

Bluebloods eyes widened. In an instant he collapsed to his knees, and grabbed Jane's leg desperately as he started to cry.

"Please! Please don't do that! I don't want to be a commoner!" He begged. "I promise, my family will support you, just please don't do this to me!"

It was an abysmal plea, and Jane wasn't having any of it. With a swift kick, she knocked the crying former prince off of her.

"Shut up you whiny brat!"

Jane stood up off of the throne to announce what she was about to say next to the group of nobles. Fear was plastered across all of the ponies faces at this point. For all of their lives they had thought of themselves as invincible, and with a few words that assumption was torn away from them.

"And with that, all of you are now regular ponies trespassing on government policy. If you all don't get your sorry pathetic asses out of my sight, then you will be punished!"

The nobles all started scrambling towards the door in an effort to escape Jane's ever so cruel wrath. The sight itself bringing a smile to the Spartans face. She never liked the nobles, even back when she was a pony. Seeing them like this brought joy to her.

Jane noticed that even Ink Splatter was making a run for it along side the former Equestrian nobles.

"Not you Ink Splatter." Jane said, her words stopping the pony dead in his path. "You are now a government official. You stay here."

"Yes your highness." He replied, head down low.

"Don't call me that."

"President?"

"No. There wont be a proper president until the rest of my people get here. I stand in for now, but you are to refer to me as Captain."

"Yes Captain Twilight Sparkle."

"Actually don't refer to me as Twilight too. My current species, the human race doesn't have names like that. Therefore in the past six years I have adopted the name Jane Arimondo."

"Very well then."

"Good." Jane said before standing up and heading to the foyer. Captain Sentry should be finished rounding up the guards at this time.

She exited the Throne room, and started to make her trek down the now empty hallway. It seemed as though every employee had evacuated as Jane wanted to. Just as she expected, cowering in front of fear, just like animals.

Upon reaching the top of the staircase, Jane could see that the entire remnants of the Royal Guard were gathered up in the Foyer.

"Fillies, and Gentlecolts of the Royal Equestrian Guard!" She announced to all of them. "As of this day forward, Equestria is under new management by the United Nations Space Command of the human race! All Government actions will now be controlled by us! You're princesses are gone, and your race is powerless to go against us. We are eons more advanced than you are, destroying you would be like stepping on ants. It would be easy, even if it was just me. It isn't just me however. I have an entire army with me, with a sizeable chunk of it just outside the castle waiting for my orders. I am giving you all a choice. Either join us, and continue your service as a soldier, or leave the army. But if any of you try to rebel, we will kill you without hesitation!"

A shroud of silence fell across the room. The atmosphere soon grew thick, as tension built. All across the room Jane could see in their faces that they were all contemplating what to do. Shorty then after, one Guard spoke up.

"I will only bow to the rule of the princesses! I signed on to protect ponies from invaders like you!"

"Very well then." Jane said before pulling out a magnum and shooting the rebellious soldier in the head. His body fell lifelessly to the ground inciting a gasp from the rest of the Guard. "So does anypony else want to go against us? Or will you submit to your new army?"

This time the response was quick. Half of the Ponies laid down their weapons, armour, and left. The others just stood there, and saluted their new Captain.

"Fantastic." Jane continued. "You are all now soldiers of the UNSC. You will be treated, and given rank as one of our own! I am captain Jane Arimondo your new commanding officer! Now return to your previously designated posts until you receive further instructions. This castle will be converted into a military base of operations until proper human government is established. My soldiers will be along soon to aid in the guard of this base."

The now UNSC soldiers started to return to their previous posts. It was amazing how a little bit of fear could go a long way.

Soon after Flash Senty approached her. "Twilight what's going on, any why are you calling yourself Jane?"

"I ordered you to call me sir. Also it's exactly how I said it. Equestria belongs to my species now. So join us, or leave."

Flash threw down his helmet and spear.

"You've changed. I won't rebel against you, but I certainly won't join you." He said before leaving.

This was good. Jane could barely stand the sight of him knowing that she used to harbour feelings for him. She was glad that he was gone.

After a few moments Jane left the foyer, and back into the castle courtyard. There, all of the soldiers Jane had brought along were with her. It was just a small fraction of the army that attacked the Crystal Empire earlier that day, but it would do.

"Alright soldiers they've surrendered! They all answer to the UNSC now. Your new orders are now to Guard this castle. So get to your duty, and make sure to make your new brothers in arms feel welcome."

The soldiers soon started making their way into the castle that she used to rule in. Jane knew that ponies would soon want to rebel against their new human rulers, but once the new technologies come in things will change. Ponies lives will get better as new medicines start to cure diseases, and extend the life expectancy of the ponies.

Yes, they'll hate humanity at first, but as time will go on, they'll learn to love their new lives.

A loud humming sound from above filled Janes ears. She looked up to see the UNSC INFINITY descending from the sky to hover above the castle.

Ponies in the streets started to stare up at it in both fear, and awe.

A lot of questions from the public will soon come canterlots way. Jane knew at this point that soon she would have to address the public openly. It was time, time for the Equestrian ponies to know who their new rulers were.


	21. Chapter 20

I Have Returned: Chapter 20

Proposition

4 years ago…

UNSC Port Stanley

In a daze consciousness came back to Twilight. She was in a guest room in Port Stanley. Jane tried to sit up, but she was pounded with a blistering headache. She must have drank quite a lot last night. Instead, she chose to lie back down on her bed again.

It felt so utterly wrong to Twilight knowing that she could have saved a child. It almost made her want to grab another drink to wash out the pain of her headache, and guilt. That would only serve to make her feel more pathetic though, not to mention how it would make her current peers view her.

She hadn't prepared for anything like this. After all, she never got the chance. When Twilight signed up for the UNSC they barely had anytime to train their soldiers. Just enough time to get them physically fit, and teach them how to use the weapons. They never had the time to properly break her, and mold her into a proper soldier.

Of Course Chamdi's death would have affected her regardless, but it would be easier for her to power through this if they had more time to train her, or if she had grown up in this awful world.

It was such a cruel world they lived in. They deserved peace, they work so hard for it, yet they never get it. It really wasn't fair. Sadly though, that is how the world she currently lives in works, nothing is fair.

Why did Equestria get so lucky? Why? They've done nothing for their peace.

Beside her B.B. materialized, interrupting her train of thought.

"Rise and shine." He said. "Ozzy told me that after breakfast to come and see her."

"I'll be as quick as possible then."

"She said that there's no rush. After all she does have a lot of work to do. Being an Admiral will do that."

Twilight once again sat up her bed, this time trying to ignore the blistering headache.

"Alright."

Whatever Osman wanted to talk to Jane about, it must be the true reason of why she was brought here for this mission. It was good to finally know that she was getting some answers. Plus it got her mind of off yesterdays events.

Well if she was going to have a talk with Osman one on one, Twilight knew that she would have to look presentable.

Once B.B. disappeared, she made her way over to a nearby mirror, and brushed her hair. Once she was satisfied Twilight put on her more professional military outfit. A standard UNSC uniform. It was essentially a simplified version of what an officer's uniform was like.

She left the room and headed for the galley which was nearby.

Twilight entered the room to find most of the crew there except for Osman. They were all just chatting amongst each other while eating. Naomi to. It was odd seeing a Spartan have a simple conversation. You always hear about them being heroic and saving lives, but nobody ever thinks about what they do outside of combat.

Among them Twilight noticed another person. He was bearded, and was certainly not as physically fit as everyone else.

"I don't believe we've met." He said, holding out his hand. "I'm Philips, Port Stanley's resident scientist."

"Jane Arimondo, nice to meet you." She replied, firmly shaking his hand.

The was a coffee machine on the other end of the room in which Jane immediately went for. She poured the steaming hot black liquid into a paper cup, and started to drink it right on the spot. Not caring that the cup was blistering hot, and giving light burns to her hands. Before going back though, she also grabbed a glass of water, and some porridge.

Twilight sat down at an empty table away from the others. She wanted to be alone right now, but Mal and Vaz picked up their food and sat right next to her. Chances are they were trying to make her feel welcome. While the effort was sincerely appreciated, it wasn't what she needed right now, but she didn't try to stop them in fear of being rude.

"Sleep well?" Mal asked, taking a bit into his food.

"Well enough."

"You did good back there you know." Vaz said, giving Jane a smile. He obviously didn't know what she had done. Did anyone?

"Thanks." Was all that Jane could say back in a monotone voice.

"Is something wrong?"

"Just tired, that's all."

Vaz looked like he was about to refute her statement for a moment, before he eased up and just said. "Alright then."

Mal not wanting to give up continued in Vaz's place. "You did good yesterday Jane. You're a fine soldier."

"Thank you."

"I hear that Osman wants to have a chat with you. You've probably guessed already that we didn't just pick for this mission randomly."

"I had a feeling. I just hope that things go well. I've heard the rumors about ONI, and what they do to people."

"Relax mate. Osman wouldn't pick you if she didn't have confidence in you, and that you would go along with what she has to say."

"You really think so?"

"Trust me, I know Osman well enough. She's a careful person, and doesn't make mistakes."

"I hope you're right."

Jane set down her coffee, and took a drink of water. She savoured it for a moment as the cool liquid eased her migraine, letting out a sigh of relief once she was done.

The others seemed to be finishing up their meals to start the rest of their day off. Chances are it was best for her to do the same as well.

With a single chug Jane finished the rest of her water, before digging into her porridge finishing that quickly as well.

Along with the others Jane put her dishes into a cleaning unit next to the door of the room. All together they left the galley each of them heading off in a different direction save for Mal and Vas, the two seemed inseparable.

Osmans office was a bit of a walk away, at least compared to other parts of the ship. Port Stanley after all was only a small vessel.

A short trip later Twilight came face to face with the door to Admiral Osman's office and personal quarters. Lightly, she knocked on the door.

"Admiral Osman." Twilight said. "I am here as per your request."

The door slid open revealing Osman herself inside. Osman's room was a bit larger than hers, although it was quite bare, making it feel larger. There was no photo's of family anywhere, or any personal trinkets. The admiral was sitting at a large blue metal desk looking at something on her computer screen.

"Come in and sit down." Osman said motioning Twilight to a chair with her hand.

Quietly Twilight walked in and sat down. The chair sat opposite to Osmans desk, giving Twilight a good view of what was on her computer. It was a profile, of Twilight herself!

"I take it that I already know why I'm here."

"Yes. I guess I can say that we here at ONI have been… monitoring you for awhile."

"I see."

"But before we start I have a few questions to ask you." Osman said, turning the computer screen more towards Jane, so she could get a better view of it. "It seems that we have no records of you prior to two years ago."

Dam, Jane knew that this would come to eventually bite her in the ass. It didn't matter back then because they were just taking anyone who could hold a gun no questions asked, but now things were different. She had to come up with an excuse.

"I guess you could say my records must have gotten destroyed at the battle of earth. A lot was damaged there after all."

"It's very hard to destroy data Jane, do you mind me calling you by your first name?"

"No, not at all sir."

"Good. Like I said though, data isn't so easily destroyed. I suppose it's possible, but it is unlikely."

"Do you not trust me, because I'm getting that vibe right now."

"Honestly Jane I don't know what to make of you right now. From what your file does contain, you have done good things for humanity. You were there at the battle of installation 00 correct?"

"Yes, I was."

Jane remembered that battle vividly. It came so quickly after Jones's, and Anthony's deaths. She was serving on one of the ships that went through the portal to the Ark when it happened. Her ship was one of the few that made it out.

"I see. You do have quite the resume. I have my doubts, but from everything that I've read about you doesn't make you look like a terrorist trying to infiltrate us."

So that was the angle Osman was going at. She thought that her lack of a history meant that she was some criminal trying to sneak into the UNSC.

"Do you think I am?"

"I am a type of person who has a very good gut feeling Jane. I know insurrectionists, I know what they're like. You on the other hand, I think I can trust you."

"Only think?"

"I am a person who rarely makes mistakes. Risks are a part of my job, and I am willing to take one with you."

"And what is that risk?"

Osman turned back to her computer. She made a few clicks, until she brought up security footage from last nights mission.

It was at the moment in which Jane pushed the button trapping Chamdi in the other section. The video made Twilights stomach churn with disgust.

"I'm not going to pretend that what I just saw doesn't piss me off." Osman said.

"I don't blame you sir."

"But you knew that you were out of time, and were willing to sacrifice a child's life to save the others."

Jane was astonished. Osman thought that she had done the deed on purpose to save the rest of the section because she was out of time. Jane wanted to tell Osman the truth, but she decided to go along for now.

"It's not something I'm proud of."

"I don't blame you. Ending a childs life is a sickening thing, and I honestly almost want to punch you for doing it. In the end though, you were willing to do that to save all of the others."

"Is that a compliment?"

"I don't know. Once again, ending the life of a child is a horrible thing, but you were able to put morals aside to do the logical thing. As much as I hate to admit it, and as much as I don't like it, those are the kind of people we need here at ONI."

"What do you mean?"

"We here at the Office of Naval Intelligence want you to work for us."

Jane could almost feel her heart skip a beat. Her, an ONI agent? Was this right for her? If she refused however, what would they do to her?

"I don't know what to say Admiral Osman. This is a bit of a shock."

"Well let me make my offer to you first. Tell me Jane, have you ever heard of the UNSC Infinity?"

"Who hasn't. It's supposed to be humanity's greatest ship."

"That is correct. Half of it is owned by the UNSC, and the other half by ONI. Sadly we don't particularly agree with their spartan command."

"And what do I have to do with this?"

"I'm going to be upfront with you Jane, we need someone in Spartan command who follows our set of thinking. The same kind of thinking that you demonstrated yesterday. We want to make you a Spartan IV, and insert you into Spartan Command aboard the INFINITY."

"I'm flattered Admiral Osman, but to become a Spartan IV you need to volunteer, and even if you do there is no guarantee that I will make it."

"Don't worry about that Jane, I'm positive that they will pick you for sure."

Jane instantly caught on to what Osman meant by that comment. "So I see that some of the rumors are true."

"Yes, we have a lot of power."

"Are you even sure that I would even be right for a leadership role?"

"That won't be a problem. You'll be a commander, but we will set things up so you can just act like a normal fire team leader, the only difference being that at any moment you can use your commander status to 'take hold' of a situation. We won't even anyone aboard that you're from ONI. So what do you say Jane, do you want to be a Spartan?"

The answer would be obvious for any normal soldier in the UNSC, yes. Sadly for Twilight though the thirty moons until the portal would open again were almost up. Thirty moon cycles on earth was approximately two and a half years. Doing this would probably mean missing out on her chance to go home.

Still though, her thoughts from earlier re emerged. Humanity was constantly fighting for peace, while pony kind did nothing, and yet got peace. Nothing about that was fair at all. Jane joined the military to hopefully become a hero for humanity, this was her only chance to become that. Plus maybe, just maybe with all the lives that she could save will wipe Chamdi's blood off of her hands. At that point, Jane knew what her answer was.

"I'll do it."

"Great." Osman said while getting up. "I'll start doing the paper work."

"I have one thing to ask of you though."

"And what would that be?"

"There's a soldier from an old squad of mine. Her name is Terresia. Most of my squad from back then died, she was the only one to make it. Do you think that you can make her a Spartan as well?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"Good, and thank you Admiral Osman."

Osman held out her hand for Jane to shake it, which she did.

"No problem. Welcome to ONI Jane Arimondo."

Former Canterlot castle, present day.

UNSC machinery filled the throne room of the UNSC's new military base. Generators were set up to power the castle, and plenty of tactical equipment. Even roland had a pedestal set up for him as he rummaged through all the data he had gotten from the cave under the Crystal Empire.

Jane had a team of scientists working on the Forerunner Dreadnought ship extracting as much information from it as possible.

As for Jane herself, she was sitting upon the throne once again. Being for a pony, the seat wasn't very large, and infact it was quite uncomfortable. It didn't matter though, such things were a minor inconvenience."

"Jane I think I've discovered what that Forerunner station is." Roland said, his holographic form appearing from the pedestal.

"What is it?"

"It's a cartographer. It leads to where we can enter the inside of the shield world from."

Yes, this was what she needed right now. Inside, there was bound to be more Forerunner tech that humanity could exploit. With whatever was inside the planet, and the Elements of harmony humanity could establish themselves as the dominant race in the galaxy.

"Fantastic Roland! I knew I could count on you. Where is it?"

"The opening is at a nearby forest according the cartographer."

It almost came as no surprise for Jane. The Everfree forest. For years ponies speculated why things such as weather, and plant life were able to function on their own. This must be the reason why it was like that.

"Good, we'll deal with that soon."

"Very well." Roland seemed to pause for a moment to choose his next words. This struck Jane as odd sense Roland was an A.I., a moment was like a day for them. "Jane what do you think that the UNSC will do once they find out what you've been doing here?"

"I know what I am doing here is the right thing. The UNSC can disagree with me all they want."

"But what do you think will happen to you? Yes what we've gained here will help humanity, but with all of the death you've caused you'll be lucky if they don't give you the death sentence!"

"Good point Roland, they'll want to see me dead; however I do have ties to ONI, if anyone can get me out of this it's them."

"You really think so?"

"I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I will try. As for right now, we have more pressing matters."

"What would those be?"

"As you already know Luna, and Cadence are no longer a threat to us. There is however one more alicorn we have to deal with."

"I think I remember you talking about a truly immortal alicorn on our first visit here."

"Yes, her name is Celestia. According to the ponies here she has been kidnapped. This isn't good for us."

"I think I see where you're going with this."

"Yes, the most powerful alicorn ever is kidnapped. Whoever did this to her could be a real threat to us."

Just then Jane felt a cold breeze right next to her, making her skin crawl in her armour. She stood up to survey her surroundings, but nothing other than her and Roland were there. This feeling inside of Jane, she knew what it was.

"Roland." Jane said.

"Yes?"

"Do you have anything on your scanners? Something that we might not be able to see."

"No, why?"

"Because I think we're being watched by something, or someone."

Jane tried to focus on whatever it must be, until she started hearing sounds from outside.

Curious Jane walked over to a window, only to see a mob of angry ponies just outside the castle grounds. It was time, time for Jane to make a speech to all of them, revealing humanity to Equestria.

Her focus shifted to her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was still burned, and it looked awful. Jane took a knife from her armour, and chopped off the bottom of her hair, leaving it much shorter.

That wasn't enough though. Just looking at even her shortened hair reminded her of the pathetic pony she once was, with her light purple and pink highlights. She needed to get rid of that.

She concentrated her magic onto her hair, and closer her eyes. When she opened them again her hair was as black as night. As of now, she looked absolutely nothing like she once did. She bore no more resemblance to her old self now, it was perfect.


	22. Chapter 21

I Have Returned Chapter 21:

Introduction

"Good news captain, we have communications online for the INFINITY." Roland said just as Jane was fixing up her hair.

She played around with the bangs trying to make them look different than her old ones. Eventually Jane just decided to run her hand through her hair and go with the results. It looked a little scraggy, but it was different. To Jane though, that all that mattered.

Once she was finished, she turned back to Roland.

"Good. Those huragok are very helpful indeed. I have a job for you roland."

"And what would that be?"

"I need you to send a file containing all of the information about what we've done here to an Admiral Serin Osman."

"All of it? Including the ugly parts?"

"Everything, including the information about me being of Equestrian origin. Attach to it a message saying that I want to speak with her about this."

"I hope you don't mind me asking but why?"

"You were right about what you said earlier, the UNSC isn't going to be happy with me. They're stupid that way, anyone with a brain can tell that I am doing good here. Osman on the other hand can get me out of whatever the UNSC tries to do to me."

"I'm guessing that that's all that you're going to let me know."

"Dam right it is. Just do it."

"Already done."

Jane smiled. It was good having an A.I. as a companion. They're smart, and extremely fast. They were also loyal, because if they ever want against you, you could just activate an override obedience code word.

"I don't know what I'd do without you Roland. One other thing though."

"Yes Captain?"

"Send the rest of my fire team to the forest in which you said the opening to the planet is. Tell them to find it, and open it."

"Already doing that as we speak."

It was amazing what A.I.'s could do. Right now chances were that Roland was having a conversation with Jane, and each individual member of her fire team. That would be four different conversations at once, and he could do it.

Roland continued. "Might I ask why you're sending them right now? Why not wait, and all go together."

"I have a lot of work to do here Roland. I trust my fire team, they can get the job done. For now though, I have another matter to attend to." Jane said looking outside at the mob of ponies.

"Very well then."

"And prep a pelican for me once I am done."

"Yes Captain."

With her conversation done, Jane left the throne room. She continued down a hallway until she reached a the doors to an outside balcony that looked over the courtyard.

It wasn't going to be easy addressing them. Especially on the topic of the princesses. The solution though, was easy, lie. Make the lie big, make it simple, keep telling them it, and eventually they'll believe it.

Of course though she'd have to sprinkle in some truths to the lie. Such as the benefits of having humanity govern them. New technology, cures for diseases, the works. Yes, life for them will be better with humanity. Eventually they'll come to thank the human race for what we've done.

She opened the door, sending a gush of cool air into her face. She could smell the freshness of it. The air here was much better than what she was used to on the INFINITY.

Stepping out onto the balcony, she could see the angry mob of ponies just outside the castle gate.

Just like that all of the pissed off ponies fell silent as they looked up at her. All that was left was the sound of the calm breeze that flowed through the city.

The whole city must have been there. Jane would have to be fairly loud for all of them to hear her. With that in mind she focused her magic on her vocal chords. It was time to use the Royal Canterlot voice.

"Citizens of Equestria!" She shouted, her booming voice soaring like a bird. "I am a representative of the human race! We come here in peace from our home planet of Earth! The human race is a space faring species that has great deeps throughout the galaxy! Right now we are about to do another one by technologically uplifting you! This means longer easier lives, and better healthcare for all of you to enjoy! We are not here to enslave you, and I swear that all of your lives will be bettered by us being here."

That seemed to satisfy most of the crowd, but one rose up and shouted. "What about the princesses! Where are they!"

Upon this the crowd went into an uproar again, before Jane silenced them by raising her hand. Now it was the time go give her lie.

"It is sad for me to report that when we confronted your princesses they refused us! They didn't want to trust us, and said that they didn't want our generous help! Alas we kept on trying to push for their approval for your sake, but they choose to retaliate! Their violence forced us into a horrible battle in the place your kind calls the Crystal Empire! It was horrendous, and we didn't want to do it, but we had to defend ourselves! Sadly in the end we were forced to take their lives."

This only got them more riled up though. That didn't matter, part of a succesfull lie was to keep telling them it.

The same pony from before shouted out again. "Then why is the sun and moon still moving!"

"Well then they must be both violent, and liars!"

The ponies at this point started throwing rocks, and other objects over the castles fence, and gate. Jane almost wanted to laugh. She knew that in time once they started to bask in the wonders of human technology that they'll never want their princesses back again.

She turned around and left back into the hallway to be greeted by an UNSC marine.

"Captain Arimondo, your pelican is ready in the castle gardens." He said, saluting her.

"Thank you."

Jane silently walked down the hallway passing by multiple soldiers on their duty. Soon she found herself just outside in the castle gardens.

Back when Jane was a child she would roam these gardens when she wasn't reading. To this day all of the smells of the flowers were still fresh in her mind, and she remembered them all. It was so peaceful, yes peace, the peace that she would bring to humanity with the Elements of Harmony.

The pelican was in the middle of an open field, the gust wind from it's engines blowing plants and flowers out of the ground.

A soldier inside of it waved her over. Jane compiled, and entered the pelican. Strapping herself in, Jane told the pelican pilot to take off and dock with the INFINITY.

It was a fairly short ride, after all, the INFINITY was hovering directly above canterlot mountain. After a few short minutes the pelican the entering one if the INFINITY's many docking bay's.

The hatch in the back of the pelican opened up to reveal a young soldier saluting her.

"Yes what is it?" Jane asked.

"I am here to inform you sir that you have been having multiple incoming messages from someone demanding to speak with you."

It must have been Osman. Good, this meant that she had her attention, something that isn't easy get with CINCONI.

"I'll get out of my armour, and head right for the captain quarters then. Thank you private."

UNSC INFINITY's Captain quarters.

The door to Lasky's old cabin swished open. The air inside felt cold and stale. It was hard to believe that just the other day Lasky himself was killed in this very room. The feeling of being where he had died felt wrong, and Jane wanted to leave the room. Nevertheless this was the only place where she privately converse with Osman sense she didn't have any com devices in her own room.

Wanting to get this over and done with Jane sat down in Lasky's desk, and hailed Osman. In Front of her, the massive TV lit up with a very angry looking Serin Osman.

"Ah Admiral Osman, I see that Roland was successfully able to deliver the information to you regarding the recent events that have occurred here." Jane said, trying to be as calm as she could be. You had to do that with dealing with the higher ups at ONI.

"You have to shitting me if I'm going to believe that you're a magical Pony Princess with superpowers. This better be a fucking joke Jane, or I am going to have you locked up in a psychiatric ward for the rest of your days. Hell, if Halsey didn't run off to the Storm Covies I would have let you be her guinea pig."

"I assure you that everything in that package is the truth Osman."

"I can't believe I thought I could trust you to be an ONI agent. You've gone off the deep end Jane. Chances are judging from this report your A.I. has sent me, I'm going to guess that this is all bullshit and you're an insane psychopath who killed Lasky."

"That's quite the accusation." Jane said, levitation a nearby glass with her magic. "But if I am lying, then how do you explain this?"

"This has to be some sort of camera trick."

"Really then, what about this."

Jane reached farther into her magic, and activated a teleportation spell on the glass. It disappeared, and reappeared on Jane's other side. It started to fall, but Jane caught it with a levitation spell, and placed it onto the desk.

Osman was left speechless, but she seemed to keep her composure.

"Alright Jane, lets say for hypothetical reasons that you are telling me the truth, what do you want from me?"

"I think that much is obvious. You've read the other parts of the report right? You know that we've had to do a lot of killing to get the elements."

"I think I see where you're going with this."

"Yes, the UNSC isn't going to be pleased with me. ONI on the other hand can keep me safe."

Osman paused to stare at Jane for a moment. Jane could see in how Osman gritted her teeth that this wasn't an easy choice for the Admiral.

"I made a big risk making you a spartan alone, and now I'm beginning to wonder if that was a mistake. I'm not sure if I want to take another large risk with you, or whether I even believe what you're saying."

"You're also making a big risk by not trusting me. If the UNSC punishes me, they will probably take over this operation and return all of the assets we've gained to the ponies, including the elements."

"Yes, Glassman's report on them was in the file that was sent to me."

"Then you know that if I am telling the truth then the UNSC will feel that they should return the Elements. They're wimps, not willing to go the extra mile that I've gone. If this becomes an ONI operation we will be in the clear. Those elements could very well give us human dominance in the Galaxy, against the Sangheili and beyond."

"How do you suppose we do that?"

"When I come back with the elements, we can do more research on them. Eventually we will find a way to syphon their power. From then on we can contain that energy, and put it in every human ship in the Galaxy. This means stronger weapons, and will let us put energy shields around ships."

"The UNSC will have a lot of questions about where the energy came from. How will we get around that?"

"Simple, we'll tell them we found the energy source on the Trevelyan shield world."

Osman seemed to contemplate her next words for a moment, before saying. "If by the end of this I find out that you're lying to me, I'll make sure the UNSC puts you in the darkest hole they can find. If what you're saying is true though, and you bring me the elements when you return, I'll keep you safe from the UNSC."

"Glad to hear that. I won't disappoint."

"You better not. From now on this is an ONI operation. I'll leave you in charge to oversee everything. I guess that means that you can finally break out your ONI uniform."

"Indeed it does. I haven't gotten a chance to wear it due to my affiliation with you guys being a secret."

Yes Jane remembered the say Osman gave her her uniform. It was back when Jane was just about to get her Spartan augments.

"Very well then Jane. Now if you excuse me, I have work to do. You better make this worth it."

"I will Osman. Jane out."

The TV's screen flickered off, and Jane breathed a sigh of relief. She was safe, the UNSC couldn't touch her now. All she had to do was get the Elements of Harmony safely to Earth. Sadly the slipspace drives were still under repair. For now she would focus her attention on the inner planet, and finding out where Celestia was. As of right now Celestia, and whoever kidnapped her were the greatest threat to Jane. They have to be eliminated at soon as possible.

Wait? What about Pearl? According to the reports she got from Palmer, she claimed that someone was telling her to rebel against the humans. When Palmer activated the override code on pearl though, the being must have left, and taken all of the memories about it with it. That must be the reason for her recent rampancy outbreak. Maybe, just maybe she might be able to recall a few things.

"Roland." Jane said.

"Yes captain." Rolands disembodied voice from a nearby speaker said.

"I need to speak with Pearl. Bring her up for me right now."

"Yes captain."

Upon Lasky's desk, Pearl's avatar appeared. Instead of her normal pink though, she was flashing red. Also Pearl was on her knees crying.

"Pearl, it's me Jane."

Pearl instantly looked up at Jane, the A.I.'s facial expression made her look like she was in pain.

"Make it stop! Please, make the voices stop!"

"We'll try to do what we can once we get back to UNSC space. For now though, I want to find the one who did this to him and eliminate it. Tell me, can you recall anything? Anything at all about who did this to you?"

Pearl burst completely red.

"Why don't ask her yourself! Oh wait, you can't because you're incompetent!" She shouted before turning pink again. "Ugg! I'm sorry! I can't stop them. They're too many voices. I can't control myself."

Jane felt bad for Pearl at this moment. It must be tough to have all of that going through her head.

"It's ok Pearl, you can go now."

With that Pearls holographic projection disappeared.

Dam. Jane couldn't get any information out of Pearl. Who ever did this must have been thorough with deleting the memories.

Wait a second though. What did pearl say earlier. 'why don't you ask her yourself'. Pearl said her. Yes! This was good, looks like whoever this 'her' is slipped up.

Who could it be though? Crysislis? Maybe? Jane didn't have enough info at this point, but Pearls statement sure helped.

Suddenly Roland's avatar appeared in front of her.

"Jane." He started. "Your fire team has opened up the entrance to the planet. It's a gravity well just like Requiem's, except smaller, still very large though. The opening is right in the middle of the forest."

"Fantastic! I'll make sure to congratulate them when they all return."

"There's one problem though."

Jane paused for a second looking at Roland. This couldn't be good.

"And what would that be?"

"We've lost contact with them."

Applejack had just finished telling Palmer about the time they all saved the Crystal Empire from the evil king Sombra. It was nice being able exchange stories with friends. Sarah had never really ever been able to do something like this before with the crew. She finally had friends. Perhaps she could use the skills she was gaining her to finally improve the crew's image of her.

"That's pretty damn cool." Palmer said. "I guess that son of a bitch wasn't counting on your little dragon buddy."

The door to the room whooshed open with two ODST's just outside.

"Commander Palmer we're here to relieve you of your duty until further notice." One of them said.

Palmer almost spoke up in protest, but stopped herself. Most of the soldiers at this point believed that the ponies were bad, trying to stay here would make her look like a sympathiser, and that wouldn't go over well with Captain Arimondo.

With Jane in charge, Palmer was powerless to do anything to help her new friends. She had to find a way, a way to get them out of her, and to take down Jane. How though? She was just one Spartan IV after all, and Jane had magic. Palmer was powerless against Jane.

As for now though all that Sarah could do was leave as she was told. On her way out though she made sure to give her new friends a wave goodbye. Also she mouthed 'I will be back later to them'.

Once Palmer was outside the two ODST's entered the room, and closed the door, leaving Sarah alone. She just hoped that the ODST's would go easy on the girls.

Fuck, what kind of luck did she have to be in this position. With an insane alien captain, and to be one of the only ones to know the truth behind everything.

A sound made Sarah look up. From the other side of the hallway, she could see a handcuffed Crimson being escorted down the hallway. He wasn't going down without a fight though as he kicked around, and did everything he could to get free. Sadly though he was without armour, and an entire fire team of fully suited up Spartan IV's were the ones escorting him.

All while he was doing this, he was yelling. "You don't understand! Jane is crazy! She's lost it! You have to believe me! I'm telling the truth I swear!"

In response though, one of the spartans just punched Crimson in the stomach, and said. "Shut up traitor."

This seemed to stop Crimson's resistance, but it didn't stop him from giving them a dirty look.

Eventually they passed Palmer. She gave him a sympathetic look as if to say 'I'm sorry this had to happen'.

The ground turned into another hallway leaving Palmer alone once again. Dam that Jane Arimondo. There was no doubt in Palmers mind right now, Jane had to pay for her Palmer maybe outnumbered and outgunned, she had to be the one to stop Jane.

This had to end here and now so no more pony lives could get lost. All that Palmer needed though was a plan, a good plan. For now though, she had to speak with Crimson in whichever cell he was put in.

Sarah clenched her fist in determination. Right now, she had to do what she did best, be a Spartan. It was time for Jane's reign as the INFINITY's captain to end once and for all, for pony kinds sake.


	23. Chapter 22

I Have Returned: Chapter 22

Threat

Three years ago…

Twilight sat patiently in the waiting room. The ticking of a nearby clock starting to get annoying for her at this point. Other than that, all was silent.

Leaning her head on a window Twilight could see Earth in all of it's glory from the view of the space station she was on. It was magnificent, oceans crystal blue, and swilling clouds covered parts of humanity's homeworld.

It felt strange looking at Earth. Twilight may have been raised on Equestria, but looking at the planet made it feel like Earth was supposed to be home. Why? Why was she thinking like that? Just staring at the planet put a warm feeling in her heart, it was almost like it was where she belonged.

That feeling was one that she used to harbour for her real home, the Golden Oaks Library, yet thinking back on it and the life she had, almost made her angry. She was so happy back then, while others were suffering. The fact that she had that great life handed to her on a silver platter when she had done little to earn it felt wrong. It felt wrong that all of Equestria was like that.

This is where she grew up though, how could she hold such awful thoughts like that to her home?

That couldn't be her focus right now though, because today Jane was going to get her Spartan IV Augmentations. By three weeks from now, which was the time it took to get all of her surgeries done, she will have transcended what a normal human being is capable of. It was almost like becoming an alicorn all over again.

There was an insane amount of amazing augmentations that Twilight was going to get. The first one was an aug that would make her bones nearly indestructible. Secondly was muscular enhancement lining, which would make her muscles able to work harder without damaging her. After that was her Pulmonary Polymer Lining, allowing her to breathe certain non oxygen gases for up to an hour. After that was Corneal Implants, which improved her senses, and gave her better night vision. Cardiac Implants that could make her run much faster. An Artificial Pancreas Implant, which enabled her to extract more nutrients from food, with less waste. Finally there was going to be Artificial Platelet Injections, allowing her body to slow bleeding.

Essentially, Jane was about to become a superhuman. Stronger, faster, smarter. The best of the best.

People looked up to Spartans. To some, they were the embodiment of the human race. Yet here she is, an alien about to become a Spartan. Was she still a pony at this point, or has all of what she has done over the past few years truly made her human?

Jane felt a palm rest upon her shoulder, prompting the soon to be Spartan to turn around and be face to face with Admiral Osman.

"Jane, it's good to see you." The Admiral said.

"Likewise Sir."

Twilight could see that in Osman was carrying a stainless steel briefcase in her right hand.

"I see that you've taken notice of my little gift to you." Osman said, holding up the briefcase

"That's for me?"

Osman handed the case to Jane. "Yes it is. Why don't you open it?"

Twilight clicked open the two flaps keeping the briefcase closed, and lifted up the top portion of the case. Inside was what seemed to be some black folded up piece of clothing.

Taking it out, and unfolding it, Jane realized that it was an Office of Naval Intelligence uniform. At the bottom of the case was a little pin attached to a name tag that Jane guessed was supposed to go on the uniform. She picked it up and saw that it had her name on it, Jane Arimondo.

Her name… It was so strange thinking that Jane Arimondo was her name. Like it or not, for that past few years it was who she was, yet she was so afraid to embrace it.

"Some wrong Jane?" Osman asked.

"Nothing Sir, I'm just a little nervous about the surgery."

"Trust me you'll make it through it, I've dealt with worse and survived."

For a second Twilight wanted to question Osman on that last statement, but chose not too. Chances are it was tricky territory.

"I know I will. Thank you for the uniform by the way."

"Just remember to keep it hidden. You're undercover, it's only for when you need to reveal yourself as an ONI agent."

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind then." Twilight said, placing the uniform back in it's case before Osman took it from her.

"The case will be mailed to you once all of your surgeries are done."

"Very well then."

Osman held out her hand for Jane to shake it, which Twilight reluctantly did.

"You're a good soldier Jane, I'm sure whoever your family is, they must be proud." Osman said before she finally left.

Would her family accept her though? Sure they accepted Shining Armour, but soldiers in Equestria didn't have to kill, Jane on the other hand did.

On the other side of the room though, Twilight could hear footsteps. Looking up, she saw that it was Terresia. Behind her though was two other people, a young asian man, and a black haired white man.

"It's been awhile Jane." Terresia said in a hushed tone.

"It has been."

"I can't believe you and I both get to become Spartan's, and get to be on the same Fire team as well. What luck is that."

Of Course Jane knew the real reason behind it, but that wasn't something she could disclose, for now though, she would just go along with it.

"Yeah, what a coincidence. Who are the other two?"

"Those are our other Fire team members Kansuke Shimuzu, and Joseph Wright."

The two introduced themselves to Jane, and they all had a fairly short conversation before a few doctors came out of the operation room.

"You guys are the new Spartan IV's, correct?" The doctor said.

"Yes, that's us." Jane replied.

"Come with me."

With that the four soldier entered the operation room, all of them ready to become Spartans.

Everfree Forest present day

Roland's team walked slowly through the forest with their assault rifles extended and their flashlight attachments on; they had been told that this forest was filled with dangerous creatures and some were big enough to get them with one attack. All they had to defend themselves was their standard rifles and pistols (with only 2 backup clips of ammo) and light chest and leg armor designed for quick infiltration, not heavy assault.

The group was nervous, the team wasn't the most elite; they consisted of Joseph Wright (a fairly experienced soldier confident in his abilities) Kansuke Shimuzu (A man who had seen his fair share of battle and is somewhat of a social retard) and Terresia (The person Roland trusted the most to lead this mission effectively).

"What the hell are we even looking for?" asked Joseph.

Terresia groaned. "For the last time Joseph, Roland sent us out here to look for the entrance gate; if this planet acts as a Forerunner shield world then there must be a passageway to reach the inner sanctum of the planet."

Kansuke nodded. "Yeah, I read about something like that in the reports on Requiem. Fine lotta shit that was."

"Hey! You weren't even there Shimuzu. You don't have the right to complain."

"Tragedy's a tragedy."

"Quiet!" Terresia shouted. "Both of you. We still have no idea what could come after us out here."

Joseph sighed. "Hell of a place for them to put a gateway: Dangerous forest filled with abominations the covenant might use for pets."

"That's probably the point dumb ass, if they put it in a field filled with flowers and rabbits everyone would go there." Kansuke replied.

Terresia silently swore that when they got back she needed to ask Roland to give her more... tolerable people for the fire team. That would be pointless though because in the end once a fire team was made, it was permanent. She wasn't usually an angry person, in fact she was often a very quiet person, but those two bumbling idiots often pissed her off. It was a godsend that the three at the very least worked well together.

After walking through the dense foliage of the forest they finally came to their destination: A decrepit, half destroyed castle that existed long before any of them were ever alive.

"We're here." She proclaimed. She pulled out an info packet that she had been given describing the details of the situation. "This place matches the coordinates Roland gave me. Come on, let's go inside."

They all marched inside carefully, the castle may have been empty but it gave off a cold, almost insidious feeling in the air that told them to be on guard.

"What a dump." Joseph said.

"Well according to the info Roland got on this place this castle in millenniums old, it belonged to the rulers of this planet back in their heyday."

"And the Forerunners build an entrance way right under their noses?" Kansuke chuckled a bit. "These ponies must be stupider than we thought if they had no idea it was here."

"Might explain why it got destroyed." Terresia waved her hand. "Both of you look around for a button or switch of some kind that could open the entrance way."

Kansuke sighed. "Right, because advanced alien races use giant red buttons to open their doorways to hidden planetary fortresses."

They look around for a little bit as Terresia examines the throne room, gazing at the thrones and banners where the two princess' probably once sat.

"Where could they have hidden it?" Terresia questioned to herself. "What possible reason could they have had to put it here? And where could they even hide it?"

In a moment of frustration Terresia kicked the throne...and it moved. Strange, it appeared to be made of a solid stone and yet it moved from her slight kick, she didn't have her strength enhancements from her suit so...why did it move?

Putting more effort into it this time Terresia kicked the throne with all her force, and as it fell to the side it revealed a glowing terminal with obvious Forerunner technology.

"Guys! I found a terminal."

"What?"

"No way!"

She pressed a few buttons on it and that caused the floor panels to glow a bright yellow light, and then the stone retracted to open up a long winding staircase filled with futuristic stairs that led down deeper than they could see.

Kansuke stared at the stairs and admired them. "So..." He looked up at Terresia. "Ladies first?"

Terresia looked at them with a glare that said 'get down there this instant or i'll kick you so hard between your legs.

Kansuke growled. "Fine."

He was the first to walk down the staircase, followed by Joseph, and finally Terresia. They walked for quite a long time, they could see the rock change in colors and the light slowly dim as they came down deeper and deeper.

Soon enough the reached a door, with no control panels or obvious circuitry surrounding it it was clearly a manual door. Kansuke and Joseph pulled the door opened and what laid behind it was...incredible: It seemed to be filled with columns made of alien metal, technology that was old and yet somehow seemed sleek and new, and finally at the very top of the massive room there was a ball that acted like a power core.

"This... was sitting under the planet all this time?" Kansuke asked.

"If this place is filled with Forerunners... the planet is doomed. No one could survive this much raw firepower."

"Precisely why you're not going to leave here..."

A voice spoke out to them, it echoed through the entire room and seemed to have no point of origin.

"Wha-"

Kansuke's comments died in his throat however, as he was jabbed in the chest by a spike of energy. The rest of the group was shocked at the attack that seemed to come from nowhere

"Shimuzu!" Terresia screamed.

"Guy's...I don't think I-AAAAAAAAH!"

He screamed as the energy grew brighter and his skin began to ignite and peel, his body was slowly being incinerated from the inside out and when it was done all that was left was a pile of ashes.

"Run!" Joseph screamed.

He and Terresia turned tail, trying to get back to the entrance; as they ran Terresia saw a stream of light quickly pass her body and caught up with Joseph in a flash. When it hit him his eyes widened and his body slowed down... then he fell to the ground, severed into two half's.

In shock Terresia fell to the ground near the man's mutilated body. "Joseph...no."

Terresia mourned, how could she not? Something so shocking and so violent takes precedence in a person's mind...even over danger.

As she knelled there she could feel a strand of energy wrap around her head and all the way down to her throat, constricting her like a snake constricts it's prey.

The light shone so brightly that she could scarcely make out any details but she could see an entity walking towards her.

"What's the matter? You humans are usually so brave and defiant. Why do you not fight back?"

Terresia tried to shake free from her bonds, becoming desperate as the entity got closer.

"Ah, you've reverted to your true self haven't you... A sniveling barbaric creature who thinks itself above other races, thinks itself superior." It's tone became more critical over time. "When all you are is a greedy bunch who want nothing more than to crush everyone else under your boot."

Then the entity giggled. "Though I do enjoy some of your nursery rhymes. How did that one go? Half a pound of tuppenny, half a pound of treacle..."

Oh god, she couldn't mean...

"That's the way the money goes..."

Terresia closed her eyes, and prayed to whatever gods would listen.

"Pop..."

The energy contracted on her head quickly and forcefully, Terresia skull was crushed into soft tissue and bone fragments. The entity eased its grip and Terresia's body slumped over, gushing blood from it's neck.

"Goes the weasel..."

UNSC INFINITY Bridge

Jane looked down upon the Everfree forest from the massive window in the INFINITY's command bridge. Roland was right, it wasn't as large as the one on Requiem, but it was still big enough to take up a sizeable chunk of the forest.

She had come so far at this point, there was no way Jane was going to turn back now. Jane was going to make sure that the INFINITY crew collected as much as they could from the inside of the planet as they could before the slip space drives were fixed.

Behind her Roland appeared on the bridge's holographic projection desk looking worried.

"Jane, we have a problem." He said, causing the Captain to turn around.

"And what would that be?"

"As you already know, the gravity well to the planet is open. The problem is though that I've been looking over some data, and signals, and it appears that the gravity well was not opened from the location that your Fire Team was at."

This instantly caught Jane's attention.

"What do you mean?"

"Your Fire Team didn't activate the entrance to the planet, something else did."

"Where?!" Jane snapped back. This wasn't good, whatever it was.

"I don't know, I can't pinpoint it."

"What about my Fire Team? Were you able to re establish a link with them?"

"No, I haven't, they have all been offline for a while now."

Dam! This wasn't what she needed right now. Things were going so well until now. Chances are this was all the work of the same being who kidnapped Celestia. How could it take on three Spartans though? No, Jane didn't know if her Fire Team encountered it, but she had to assume the worst for now.

If Jane's assumptions were right, then this being must have killed her Fire Team, and opened up the planet to trick us into coming in.

Jane desperately wanted to punch something right now. Her Fire Team consisted of good people. They didn't deserve to die, and this bastard must have killed them! There was no time to mourn, she would do that later. Right now, Jane had to take this motherfucker out.

"Chances are whoever opened up the entrance has a trap for us." Jane said.

"How are we going to get around it though?"

"Sometimes Roland, the best way to counter a trap is to walk right into it."

"You really think that's going to work?"

"As opposed to what? Staying up here. Whoever that being is, it has the power to come aboard the INFINITY itself. I'm guessing that it's the one who killed Lasky now."

"So we don't have anytime to wait?"

"Exactly Roland. We have to act now, or risk having more of us die. This motherfucker is going to cause a lot of problems if we let it roam free, so I want it dead now."

"Should I start preparing troopers to invade the inside of the planet?"

Jane shook her head. "No, I'll go in alone. It's far too risky sending in a large force. I'll go get my armour on."

"Very well then." Roland said, his holographic form dissapearing from the table.

Jane took one last look at the gravity well in the middle of the forest. Whoever was down there, was waiting for her. She had no idea what thing thing was capable of, or even what it looked like. All that she knew that this being might possibly be female, and that Jane was going to kill it.


	24. Chapter 23

I Have Returned Chapter 23:

The Battle of the Spartans

Crimson's cell was guarded by two Spartans on each side of the door. Usually it would just be two marines instead, but even without armour, Crimson was a deadly foe that could easily overpower a few marines. It made sense that Jane would choose Spartans to be the ones guarding him.

Thankfully Palmer outranked the two guards, making getting into Crimson's cell very easy, whether the soldiers liked Palmer or not.

Casually, she walked up to the guards and cleared her throat.

"I need to see Spartan Dougherty for a moment." Palmer said.

"What for?" The soldier on the left replied.

"That's classified, and above your pay grade." Palmer lied. Of course she needed an excuse though. "I just need to see him. You can consider it an order."

One of the guards imputed a code into Crimsons cell door. The two stepped aside as the reinforced door slid open.

Palmer walked in, and the door closed behind her. The room was as bare as it could be. No windows, no bed, just a toilet for Crimson, and a long metal bench for him to sit and sleep on.

Crimson himself sat slumped over on the bench. Palmer couldn't see his face in it's entirety, but she could tell that he had been crying.

Kneeling down, she put a hand on his shoulder. Noticing this, Crimson looked up at Palmer, his face stricken with dry tears.

"I just can't believe all of this has happened." He said. "I thought Jane was my friend. And now practically my whole life has been turned around in just a matter of a few days."

"This isn't over yet Crimson. We still have a chance to stop Jane before she causes any more damage."

He took a deep breath and stared Palmer right in the eyes. At this moment it felt like Sarah could see into his soul through his dark brown eyes. Eyes that were filled with sorrow, and pain.

"Palmer?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think that we're going to have to kill Jane?"

Palmer sighed. "I don't know. Hell at this point in time I don't really know anything. All that I know is that she has to be stopped. If that means killing her, then it's what we are going to have to do."

"But what if we incapacitate her, and arrest her. Maybe then she could just be sent off to prison, and she could possibly get psychological help."

Sarah couldn't help but feel sorry for Crimson. A good friend betrayed him, and while he knew that Jane had to be stopped, he still cared about her enough to want to keep her alive. It went to show that no matter how bad a person could become, a good friend will never completely turn their back on a person.

"Honestly Brennan, if she does go to prison and get psychological help and realize that what she has done here is wrong, then she'll be forced to live the rest of her life knowing what she did. Living day by day with memories like that, I can't say for certain, but that must be a pain worse than death."

"So what are we going to do? Jane has the elements after all."

"Well first off we're going to have to get those elements away from her."

"Jane did take prisoner one of Equestria's princesses. Maybe she can replace Jane as the final element barer."

Crimson was onto something. If this princess knew the elements bearers well enough, then it could work!

"Which princess?"

"Princess Luna."

Yes! This was good, her new friends had history with Luna. It could very well work.

"Good, maybe Luna can be the Element of Magic in Jane's place. It is a risky move though."

"What other choice to we have?"

"Hmmm. We don't know if Luna can activate the element of magic. So what I am thinking is that I grab the ponies, escape down to the planet and try to hide. If Jane finds us, then we'll try having Luna and the others use the elements against her."

"That might kill Jane though."

"Maybe, maybe not. The bearers have told me stories of their adventures. They said that Luna used to be evil, and when they used the elements on her, it took the evil away. It might have the same effect on Jane."

"You really think so?"

"I don't know. It's all we have though. Where is Luna?"

"I have no idea."

All of a Sudden a disembodied voice spoke to them.

"I think I can help with that." It said. A peditool came out from the wall right behind Crimson, with Roland on top of it.

"You know where she is?" Palmer asked.

"As of right now I am the ship's main A.I. I know everything."

"And you want to help us?"

"I'm not fond of what Jane's doing either. It's just that I can't say no directly to her face. In fact, I've already sent the guards outside of this room, the ones outside of Luna's, and the element bearers rooms away. Also I have you armour ready Crimson, incase you need it. Needless to say, I did this all in about half a second."

Palmer chuckled. "You A.I.'s are miracle workers. Where is Luna?"

"Just a few hallways down in cell 19. Be quick though, Jane is planning to head down to the planet soon. Wouldn't want to bump into her on your way."

"Alright, lets go Crimson."

Behind Palmer, the door to the hallway opened. Probably due to Roland. Outside the guards were nowhere to be seen as the two Spartans stepped out.

On a nearby wall there was a sign listing Cell numbers and which directions they were in. Cells 0-15 were to the right of them, and 15-30 were to the left.

Cautiously the two started to make their way towards where Luna was, both of them keeping their eyes peeled for anyone out there who might catch them. Crimson right now was supposed to be a prisoner, if Palmer was caught aiding his escape, she would be in deep shit as well.

Moving around a corner Palmer spotted a marine. He looked over at her way, and instantly spotted Crimson. He walked over to her, and asked.

"What are you doing with that prisoner? He is only to be moved under Captain Arimondo's authority."

Dammit. Palmer didn't have time for this. There was only one thing she could do at a time like this.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"Sorry for what?" He responded, before Palmers fist collided with his face, knocking him out cold.

"Sorry for that."

Crimson moved past Palmer, and picked up the unconscious soldiers MA5D assault rifle.

"Just incase." Crimson said.

Eventually they finally made their way to Luna's cell. The door opened the moment they walked up to it, probably due to Roland.

They layout was exactly the same as where Crimson was held. On the metal bench there was a passed out Luna. Her horn cracked for some reason.

Pointing to the horn Palmer said. "Did Jane do that?"

"Yes she did."

"That bitch."

Palmer knelt down right next to Luna and started to gently shake her. Slowly the alicorns body began to rustle, and her eyes finally opened.

When Luna seemed to be finally awake enough to notice, and process her surroundings, she instantly tried to kick Palmer away from her.

"AHHHH! Get away from me!" She screamed.

Palmer grasped the Lunar princess, while shushing her.

"Be quiet. We're here to get you out of here. My name is Sarah Palmer."

"And you already know me, but I'm Brennan aka Crimson." Crimson added.

Luna after calmer down asked Palmer. "Why are you helping me?"

"We don't like what Jane is trying to do, and want to stop her. We're breaking you, and the element bearers out of here."

"What about the elements themselves?"

"We're grabbing those too. After that we'll escape down to the planet and go into hiding. Hopefully Jane won't be able to find us."

"And if she does?"

"Then you and the rest of the bearers will have to use the Elements of Harmony on her."

"Fine then." Luna said, getting up.

"Good then." Palmer said. "We should all get going to break out the others."

"Actually no." Crimson intervened. "You guys break them out. I'll distract Jane."

Palmer was baffled by this.

"What do you mean?"

"You heard what Roland said. Jane is planning on heading down to the planet. I can hold her off giving you guys time to escape and hide."

"You're going to fight her?"

"If I have to then yes, I'll fight her."

"Crimson that's stupid, you're far too close to Jane. Plus she's far more powerful than any of us!"

"Which is why I'm the only one who can do it. It just wouldn't feel right if it was anyone else. I care about her the most, which is why it's only right for me to be the one to stand against her."

"But what if you have to kill her? Do you think you'll be able to bring yourself to do that to her?"

"You said it yourself Palmer. If Jane ever snaps out of this, she won't ever be able to live with herself. Maybe death if the only way to free her."

Crimson was breathing heavily. His sorrow was still there, but he now had a sort of fire to his eyes. He was determined, and Palmer could tell that he wasn't going to hold back.

"Fine then, but how are you going to get around her magic? She's practically a god with it."

Crimson turned around and opened up the door. Before leaving though he turned his head around and said. "I have something in mind for that."

And with that, he left. Luna and Palmer glanced at each other and gave a quick nod of confirmation. They were on the same page now.

"Alright Luna, let's get going."

"I second that."

UNSC INFINITY S Deck.

The machine had just finished putting on Crimson's blue and white armour. Stepping down of off the apparatus he took a quick look to admire his armour. He loved his venator RPTR armour body, it clashed perfectly with his deadeye helmet. A solar vizor added to it, as a metaporical cherry on top. It was his perfect armour configuration, and it might be the last time he would wear it.

From a nearby weapons rack, Crimson grabbed two energy swords recovered from the INFINITY's many battles against the storm Covenant. These were just what he needed.

A whooshing sound came from the other side of the room, signaling a door opening. Crimson turned around, and needless to say there was Jane. Now though, she was different.

Jane's hair was now purely black, and was much shorter. That didn't matter though, because she instantly noticed him, and she didn't look happy about it.

"How the fuck did you escape!" She yelled at him.

"That's none of your business Jane."

Of Course she scoffed at his come back.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kick your ass, and send you back to your cell with three broken ribs, a black eye, and magical burns."

"That's exactly what I'm here to see if you can do."

"You've tested my patience far too many times. I have more pressing matters right now than you. You're a good man Brennan, don't make me hurt you more, because I will."

"Well then you'll have to do your best. I've known you for a long time Jane, I've seen good in you. I know behind all of the pain you've endured, there's a good person. If I have to fight you to bring that Jane back, then I will."

There was no time to think about whether this was the right thing to do. Or time to think about whether he was fighting her to end her pain once and for all, or to bring the Jane he knew back in the vain hope that one day she'll be able to find peace with herself. All that he knew was that he had to fight, and pray to god that whatever the outcome of the battle would be the right one.

"Do you honestly think that you stand a chance against me?"

"Get your armour on."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I said get your armour on."

Jane gave him a quick glare before complying, and stepping into a nearby machine to put on her armour.

Shortly after she stepped out, fully suited up just like him.

Removing his helmet Crimson said. "No helmets either." To which Jane complied, throwing her helmet on the ground.

"Anything else before we get started?"

Crimson took one of the energy swords placed on his belt, and tossed it towards Jane who with ease caught it.

"No magic, no nothing. Just you and me. Spartan on Spartan, sword on sword. Clear?"

"Crystal."

At the same time both of them activated their energy swords. The twin blades glowing with life, and making a faint humming sound.

Crimson however didn't get to enjoy it's beauty for long as Jane lunged right at him, swinging her sword down. In response Crimson raised his to block her attack. The swords clashed, but the force of Jane's attack send Crimson back a few paces.

Before having any time to recover Jane swung at him again. keeping his sword in the same place, he blocked that attack as well.

That only egged Jane on though and she started to make multiple faster swings at him, further sending Crimson back. If things kept up like this he would surely be backed up into a wall in no time.

"Are you going to stay on the defense forever Brennan!"

With this Jane swung again at Crimson. This time though, he backed up quickly to the point in which she missed him. Using this opening Crimson took his first swing at Jane; however she adopted the same tactic as him, and dodged it, the blade of Crimsons sword just barely touching her armour.

"Now that's more like it!" Jane yelled, swinging her sword again.

At the same time though, Crimson made a swing causing the two energy blades to clash sending sparks flying.

"Just stop this Jane. This can all end here!"

"Really? Do you honestly think that I'll stop after I've come so far!?"

"You said that we'd leave after we got the elements!"

"Well guess what Crimson, the slip space drives are still broken, and Equestria has turned out to be a shield world. There is so much that we can obtain from it, why stop now?"

Crimson could feel the force of Jane pushing his sword back, it felt like a deadly arm wrestle, except he was loosing.

Eventually Jane managed to win, as she pushed Crimson away. As he staggered back, Jane delivered a quick kick to the shin putting him down on one knee. Now she gave a quick uppercut with her energy sword, the blade searing through the front of his armour with the tips barely hitting his skin.

The burn caused Crimson to cry out in pain. It wasn't over though as Jane kicked him in the ribs, sending him back first to the floor.

Crimson tried to get up, but Jane put her boot on him preventing the already weak soldier from moving.

Kneeling down Jane said. "Don't ever cross me again." Before giving him one swift punch to the face knocking him out.

UNSC Pelican

The pelican finally made its way out of INFINITY's hanger giving Palmer a sigh of relief.

She turned her head to look at Luna who was sitting right next to her. She looked pained, but not emotional pain, she looked like she was in physical pain.

"You alright?" Palmer asked.

"Urrgh, it's just that your species looks so familiar. It's like I've seen your kind before. It's on the tip of my tongue, but everytime I try to think about it, I get a searing pain inside of my head."

This was odd. Why would Luna be like that. The thought of her ever encountering humans before was ludicrous beyond belief.

"What do you think it is?"

"I have no idea. It's almost as something is trying to keep me from remembering. Either way, thank you for doing this."

"Trust me, I like Jane just as much as you do. She's crazy for trying to do this. But honestly though, what made you trust me?"

"It was the other one, the blue one."

"You mean Crimson?"

"Yes, quite an odd name for someone who wears blue."

"It's just a nickname, his real name is Brennan Dougherty."

"Yes, he came the night before the attack on the Crystal Empire to warn us. Also during the attack he tried to stop Jane."

"I don't know Crimson well, but I do know that he is a very morally driven soldier, with a good sense of justice."

Palmer looked out the window of the cockpit. In the middle of what she assumed to be the everfree forest was a massive gravity well just like on Requiem. Damn, this place must be another shield world!

Palmer pointed to the opening.

"We'll hide in there, it'll be harder for Jane to find us inside the planet." Palmer said. "And chances are we'll find some answers to whatever is happening to you as well."

"I agree."

A team of soldiers removed Crimsons unconscious body to the medical wing. His injuries should be minor, but it was always best to go on the side of caution.

As of right now Jane was walking down a hallway leading to a hanger when she spotted something outside the window. It was a pelican, and it was heading down the gravity well and into the inner planet.

Jane didn't authorize anything of the sort, who would do that? Wait? Dammit, no it couldn't be.

"Roland!" She barked. "Status on the prisoners."

Roland's voice came through a nearby speaker. "I don't know how, but they've managed to escape captain."

"Dammit! Crimson's fight with me was only a distraction! He must have been covering for them."

"That was smart of him."

But who would be the one flying the pelican? Wait, it had to be Palmer. She was barely going along with Jane in the first place, it could only be her.

"Problem is though that they're going to spring whatever trap was laid there by our gracious captain killing friend."

"That can't be good."

"We'll head down now after them. Make a fragment of yourself Roland."

"No can do, I'm barely keeping Pearl out as it is, if I made a fragment myself she could break through the firewalls I set up."

"Fine then, I'll go on my own."

Jane took one last look at the gravity well. Palmer was an idiot for going down that way. Jane had to get down there immediately, both to stop Palmer and her old friends from doing anything stupid, and to get to the bottom of this Celestia mystery once and for all.


	25. Chapter 24

I Have Returned Chapter 24:

The Final Fall Begins

Three years ago….

Sleep was slowly leaving Twilights body. The three long weeks of surgery took a massive toll on her, but she could feel it, feel her newfound strength. Now she was faster, stronger, and more capable than practically any human has ever been, she would be an elite: A Spartan. To some, she would be like a god, little do they know she once was.

Most soldiers could only dream of becoming a Spartan, and now she was one.

Slowly she opened her eyes to instantly become shocked. The ceiling was wooden, why would it be like that? Jane turned her head to the left and she could see a bright blue sky outside a nearby window. That was impossible, she was on a space station right now.

Confused, Jane pushed up her body with her hooves. Wait hooves?! She looked down at where he hands were to find two purple hooves in their place. Quicky Twilight threw off the blanket that covered her to see that she was fully back in her old body.

She was home. Home at last. A strange feeling swelled up in her stomach when she thought 'home', something foreign and gross...as if deep in her soul Equestria didn't feel like home anymore.

Twilight shook those thoughts out of her head, that didn't matter right now. All that was important at this moment was that she was in Equestria once again.

Her heart was filled with joy as she lept out of bed, and ran down into the main living room of the Golden Oaks Library. Everything was just as she left it, the way the furniture was placed, to the locations of all of the books. It was like she never left.

"Spike! I'm home!" Twilight yelled out to no response.

Strange, after all these years she thought that he would come running at the sound of her voice. She was certain it would be fine, he was probably just at Rarity's. After all he would be a teenager at this point, and well, she knew what teenagers were like with mares.

Just the thought of seeing Spike all grown up made made her tingle with anticipation. There was so much catching up to do, she couldn't wait.

Twilight rushed out of the door and into the busy streets of ponyville. Once again it was just how she remembered it, so lively, so happy. As she looked around though, she noticed that something felt… off. She couldn't put her finger (or now hoof) on it though.

Then it hit her. She had been gone for three years, now she's back and in open public, but for some reason nobody or nopony was noticing her.

"I'm back everypony." She said. "It's been three years but I'm back."

Once again nopony noticed her.

"Hello! It's me Twilight Sparkle, your princess who has been gone for the past three years!"

This wasn't right. Ponies would just past by her, not even glancing in her direction. It was like she was still gone. How could this be? She had saved equestria countless times, now she returns after an explained three year absence and nopony cares that she was back? It just didn't feel right.

Eventually Twilight decided to start walking. Maybe if she found one of her friends, they would surely notice her. They were her best friends after all, how couldn't they miss her?

After a bit of wandering, Jane...Twilight... came upon the market at the middle of town. Great! Usually Applejack was there selling her apples.

Twilight weaved her way into the crowd, and started looking for Applejack's stand. There were just so many ponies clustered around it, it made it hard for Twilight to find it.

She tried saying excuse me to a few ponies in her way, but once again she got no reply. After trying a few more times, she just decided to barge through and shove them to the side. It worked, but when she looked back, the ponies didn't even looked fazed. It was like it never happened.

Turning her head back around Twilight saw the Apple family stall with Big Mac selling apples. Great! He knew her, certainly she would get a reaction out of him.

She trotted over to him all while smiling. He didn't even glance at her, yet she was standing right in front of him.

"Big Mac, it's me Jan- I mean Twilight."

No response.

"Please Big Mac, not you too. Can you at least tell me where Applejack and the others are.

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Twilight sighed, it was pointless. She turned back to face the crowd again, but this time the entire crowd was gone. All that stood before her were five ponies: Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity. For a moment Twilight was filled with joy, then she noticed their faces, they were all angry.

"Girls, it's me, I'm back." Twilight said, starting to get worried now. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Everything went dead quiet. The five ponies just started at her, all looking like they hated her.

Jane at this point started to back up.

"Please, say something. Say anything!"

Things went silent for another moment, until the five ponies said in unison. "You monster!"

"What! Why are you saying that, I'm not a monster. It's me Twilight, don't you all recognize me?"

"No... you are a monster." They all said again.

"No, it's me Twilight!"

"Wrong, you are Jane, not Twilight. A murderous monster."

Jane's heart was racing faster than it ever had before. Why were they saying this? What was going on!?

Suddenly though, Jane heard another voice, this time from below her. She looked down, and there he was: Chamdi.

"You…. Killed…. Me…." He said.

Jane jolted upright in her bed with a gasp. She immediately noticed that she was back as a human again, and that she was still on the space station in which she got her surgeries done. She was back in reality.

It was a dream, it was all just a dream. None of that was real. She was a fool for even thinking it was real for a moment. In fact she should have known that it was just a dream the instant the ponies wouldn't notice her; it was a dead give away.

That wasn't the half of it though. Her friends, they called her a monster. It was only a dream, but it felt so real. Killing almost never happened in Equestria, and anyone who killed was frowned upon even if it was in self-defence. Ponykind had a 'there's always another way' mindset. It wasn't too much of a stretch to think that her old friends would hate her for what she had done.

No, that was impossible. They all knew her very well, and would know that Jane would never do anything such as killing another being without good reason. They would understand, right, they had too. If they didn't though, then that dream wouldn't be too far off of reality. It was a scary thought, and it sent shivers down her spine.

A knock came from the other side of the door to Jane's room.

"Come in." Jane said.

The door opened revealing none other than Admiral Osman herself. Once again Osman was carrying the same briefcase containing her ONI uniform.

"Hello Jane, how are you feeling after all of your operations." Osman said, giving Jane a smile.

"Well, bigger for one. Stronger too."

"Explain."

"I find that after I recovered from my surgeries I don't get tired as easily. I don't need to eat as much. Weights that use to push me to my limits now feel like paperweights. All kinds of things."

"I bet." Osman replied pointing to the brief case. "As you can already guess, I brought your uniform. This time though, I'll leave it in your hands."

"Yes, thank you once again Admiral Osman."

"It is no problem. You're ONI now Jane, you're going to do great things for humanity."

"I hope so."

"You will Jane. Humanity always comes first, no matter what. I know that you will follow those words no matter what, I can see it in your eyes."

Humanity always comes first? It was such a strange concept considering her origins. How could she value the lives of her birth species instead of the species in which she snuck into. Was that honestly what Osman saw in her? For now though, she would just go along with it to keep Osman happy.

"Yes sir! Humanity is the only thing that matters."

"Great, that's what I like to hear Jane."

"I know. Is there anything else you're here for Admiral?"

"Yes actually. I had your armour put on top priority, it is ready for you now to try on."

Her armour!? Yes! All of Jane's negative thoughts left her in an instant. This is what she had been waiting for. Jane designed her armour herself, and she couldn't wait to try it on.

"I would love to try it on." Jane said, getting up out of her bed.

"That's good to hear. As you already know Spartans are required to wear a special kind of jumpsuit to put on their armour. Yours is in your closet I believe."

"I'll get that on right away."

"Good, I'll leave you to get changed then. Meet me outside." Osman said before leaving.

Jane walked over to the closet in her room. It wasn't often soldiers in the UNSC got a full closet for themselves, but she was getting special treatment no doubt in part of her ONI affiliation.

She opened it up, and found her jumpsuit.

"Well, lets get you on then."

Five minutes later…

The machine stood before her. A device designed for putting on armour for a Spartan IV in rapid time. Before these, a team of technicians had to put it on which could take up to fifteen minutes. This machine on the other hand could do it in five. That alone could be the difference between life and death.

Jane stepped into it one foot at a time. Her new boots clamped down onto her legs. Next she placed her hands into two sockets that put on her new gloves and gauntlets. Now the machine slowly lifted her off of the ground as a few mechanical arms popped out of the ground to put on the rest of the parts.

First was the chest plate, then the shoulders, and finally the legs. The machine lowered her back down to the ground before a robotic arm holding her new helmet placed it on her head.

Her hud flared to life as she walked off of the machine, clad in her new armour.

Turning around to face a mirror, she saw herself for the first time as a Spartan. Her armour was coloured the same way her old hair was, and the soldier type helmet was a perfect fit for her.

She looked… deadly. Of Course she herself knew that behind all of that armour was a simple human being. To others though, especially her advisories, all that they would see is a Spartan who was built for combat, and bred for war. The perfect killing machine.

Present day. Equestria, inner planet.

Jane crept silently through the brush. She had been tracking down Palmer and the others for the better part of an hour now. She had to keep at a good distance though and keep crouched, after all Palmer had motion trackers just like her.

Peeking her head just over the bush she was hiding in, she caught a glimpse of Palmer Luna, and her old friends standing outside of an entrance to an underground Forerunner structure. Jane could just barely make out what they were saying.

"Should we go in?" Luna said.

"It would be hard for Jane to find us in there." Palmer replied.

'Fat fucking chance, I've already found you.' Jane thought.

"True, but it might be dangerous down there."

Rainbow dash flew in between them trying to look heroic.

"Humph! I'm not afraid of any danger." Rainbow proclaimed.

Sadly though, Rainbow was ignored by the rest as they tried to figure out what to do.

"Hmmm." Luna said. "Once again, it looks so familia- ARGH!"

Luna collapsed onto the ground. Palmer quickly helped Luna get back on her feet.

"It happened again?"

"Yes, it did. I don't know why. It feels like I know this place, but I try to focus on remembering anything I get that blistering pain."

"Same kind of pain when you try to think of humans?"

"Yes, exactly."

This was news to Jane. Maybe she would have to look into this if she let any of the survive.

"Well that doesn't matter right now. I say we go in. I've been in enough Forerunner structures to know that they always build another exit."

"Very well, we'll follow your lead Miss Palmer."

They all started to move into the structure while Jane waited silently from a distance.

This was perfect, she could probably corner them in there, and end this once and for all. Palmer made a poor choice by siding with the enemy, and helping them out. Hopefully Jane could deal with this quickly and get back to the ship.

Jane stood up, walked out of the bush and into the open. Stepping up to the entrance she stopped for a moment. There was bound to be danger down there, who ever took Celestia, and possibly killed her fire team could be down there.

No, she couldn't be afraid. That's what the being would want her to be. Jane's encounter with it was bound to happen eventually. All that she could do was face it head on, and with all of her power.

Palmer would no doubt at this point have Jane come up on her motion tracker, so it was time to finish this once and for all.

Jane lept into a sprint down into the underground structure. She had no time to admire the Forerunners architecture, and technological wonder. That could be done later.

Quickly she caught up to the others and yelled. "Stop right there!"

Each of the seven turned around, and Jane noticed that each her old friends where wearing their respective elements save for Luna who was wearing Jane's.

Palmer snickered.

"I caught you on my motion tracker long ago Jane, and now we have you cornered with the Elements of Harmony."

"Damn! I underestimated you Palmer."

"Ya, we set a trap, and you fell for it."

"I must admit, I'm impressed." Jane scoffed. "But you are all fools to think that you can defeat me. I will fulfill my ambition, and save humanity. If you are all willing to stand in my way, then I'll knock you down with all of my might."

"We'll just see about that!" Palmer shouted. "Girls, activate your elements."

One by one each of the elements started to glow, and they all raised into the air. Each of their eyes glowed white, and a double rainbow shot out towards the ceiling. Within a fraction of a second the two rainbows combined into one and shot down at Jane.

The Rainbow collided with the Spartan in a display of light. After a few seconds though it all went away leaving Jane standing there the same way she was before.

For a moment Jane got worried, but soon realized that she didn't feel any different. The elements didn't work on her.

A few more moments passed before Luna said. "Did it work."

Jane at this point couldn't contain herself.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was pathetic!" Jane laughed.

"No! They didn't work, how is that possible.!"

Jane laughed again at Luna's remark.

"You have no idea how things work don't you."

"Come again?"

"With humanity there is no such thing as good or evil. It's not like your stupid world where everyone is either a saint or sinner. With the human race, it's just different people with different goals, there is no set morality. You think that you can purge evil from me, well guess what! In reality the only right or wrong, is the right or wrong we create ourselves!"

The seven started to back away now nervously.

"No, our once chance to stop all of this, gone." Palmer said, now visibly scared.

Jane pulled out the M739 SAW from the back of her armour, and pointed it to them.

"And now with that done, I'm going to do what I should have done in the first place instead of taking you all prisoner! Shame, I initially didn't want to kill any of you, but I have to do what I have to do."

In an instant though, before Jane could pull the trigger a massive wall materialized in front of her, separating the lone Spartan from the others.

Dam! She was so close. Whoever did this, it must have been the work of Celestia's kidnapper. That only confirmed her earlier suspicions, this was a trap.

Behind Jane some of the floor opened up, and out from it came a large cylinder object with an opening in it for a person to enter. A haze of blue energy was inside the cylinder and it shot upwards towards the ceiling.

It felt as though it was beckoning her, wanting her to enter it. Without even noticing Jane started to creep forwards to it till she was just a meter away from it. Whether this thing was going to kill her or help her, she didn't know. All that she knew was that it must have been there for a reason.

"No pain no gain then." Jane said as she stepped into it.

All around Jane her world went white, and then just as suddenly she found herself alone, surrounded by a blue haze and darkness.

A being appeared before her floating in the haze. It was clearly female. She was very humanoid, but she definitely wasn't a human at all. Her skin was pale white, and she had two holes on her face for a nose. Whoever she was, she was wearing a strange metal shaped hat in the shape of a hairstyle.

"Wh- Who are you?" Jane asked.

"I am the Librarian."

"Are you the one who has been doing all of this?"

"No I am not the one behind all of this; however I do know who is. Fret not, I am here to answer all of your questions Jane Arimondo. It is time you learned the truth about Equestria."


	26. Chapter 25

I Have Returned Chapter 25:

The Truth At Last

All of the lights around Palmer radiated a beautiful blue hue as most Forerunner structures did. It was just like being on Requiem again, except with less Covies, and a psychopath of a soldier to replace them. Sarah didn't know which was worse.

Palmer and the others after their encounter with Jane were walking down the corridors of the labyrinth that was the underground Forerunner structure.

"I can't believe she almost shot us!" Palmer said.

Luna was quick to respond though with. "I still can't believe that the Twilight Sparkle I knew has become that…. that being!"

"I've heard the stories of what she used to be like. Shame, she sounded like a good damn person, or pony in this case."

"I just hope we can lose her in here."

"Like I said earlier, these Forerunner buildings usually have more than one exit. If she isn't able to find us again in here, once we get out it'll be almost impossible for her to find us then."

"That won't stop her from looking for us though. We have the Elements of Harmony after all, they're her number one desire right now. She thinks they can save your people's species."

"And she's probably right, but that doesn't make it right for her to just take them. Those Elements belong to the ponies of Equestria. Jane is a disgrace to the Spartan name."

"Might I ask, what is a Spartan? I've heard the name quite a few times by now."

"The alien alliance we have been fighting against for the past few decades is called the Covenant. Some of the species in that alliance are far stronger and far more technologically advanced than the human race."

"I don't see how that answers my question Miss Palmer."

"Spartans are genetically enhanced human soldiers, with some of the best technology humankind has come up with. We are the closest things to being able to match those aliens on both a technological level, and a brute strength level. For years, the Spartans have been humanity's last hope."

"And you and Jane are both Spartans?"

"We're generation IV Spartans. The newest breed of Spartans."

"What about the older generations? What were they like?"

"I can't say much about them. Most of what I know is classified."

"Why is that?"

"Lets just say that some of the methods used to make the older ones were…. unorthodox."

"Do you think that your people will ever win this war? Without the elements I mean."

"We did for awhile about six years ago; however the remnants of the Covenant joined together to become the Storm Covenant. We're doing better than before, but if things keep up, they might just destroy us."

Luna stopped and put a hoof on Palmer's shoulder. Her hoof just barely managing to go up that high, considering that Palmer was much taller than Luna.

"Then I hope for the sake of your species that one day you will be triumphant."

The air around all of them got colder for some reason. If Palmer wasn't in armour, she'd have goosebumps. Then, Palmer almost felt like there was another presence in the hallway that they were in. She didn't know for sure, until a voice came out from the shadows.

"I personally disagree, my little ponies….."

The Librarian floated above Jane in the blue haze in the middle of nothingness.

"What are you!" Jane asked.

"I am a Forerunner Jane."

A Forerunner, still alive? Impossible, unless this was some sort of A.I. or message. Also, how did she know her name?

"You say that it's time for me to learn the truth about Equestria?"

"That is correct."

"I already know though! The planet is a shield world!"

"No Jane, I'm afraid it goes much deeper than that. Much deeper then you could ever even imagine."

"Explain, because if you don't, then I'll just assume that you're the one behind this all. Got it?"

The Librarian lowered herself until she was at eye level with Jane, who was still very sceptical of the Forerunner's intent.

"About one hundred thousand years ago my husband the Didact did not want humanity to obtain the mantle of responsibility."

"I know this, I read the report on the Master Chief's encounter with him on Requiem."

"That's not all though I'm afraid."

"I'm listening."

"While we wanted humanity to obtain the mantle of responsibility, we did not want them to be alone. That's why I chose your old species, pony kind, to rule beside humanity."

Jane scoffed.

"You have to be kidding me. If that were true, humanity would have found evidence of that!"

"Yes, however something happened. My husband the Didact happened."

A lightbulb inside Jane's head went off.

"Wait a second, I remember reading something that Roland dug up under the crystal empire. Something about keeping ponykind away from humanity, and halting all technological progress. Also something about a gift."

"Exactly. Before my husband fled to Requiem where I imprisoned him, he made an attempt to try and stop my plans."

"And what did he do?"

"He went to a noble of your species who worshiped the Didact. He claimed that if it was willing to keep ponykind away from humanity, and to keep the ponies from making any advancements in technology, he would kill off all of the other higher ups at your species so it would be in power. That was only the beginning though, after that he hacked the monitors that were deciding where each species went after the Halo's fired. He made it so ponykind would get sent to this shield world."

Jane almost didn't want to believe what she was hearing. It seemed so far fetched, yet it all made sense.

"So that's what's going on. Everything is starting to make sense now. I have to stop whoever is doing this!"

"Yes you do, but I am not done telling you what I need to tell you."

"Continue."

"Before the Halo's fired he sent Ponykinds new ruler to hide within the shield world to protect itself from the array. The Didact left instructions on how the being could link itself to the core of the planet. In turn the energy of the core would keep the new ruler from aging, and give it unimaginable power."

Jane remembered seeing reports on the Didact and how he fought the Master Chief. During the fight it seemed as though that Didact had a magic like ability.

"Let me guess, that power and magic are one in the same."

"Yes they are."

Jane raised an eyebrow.

"What about everypony else? They all have magic in their own ways."

"True. When the being connected itself with the core, it malfunctioned. While the being gained its power, everyone else got a fraction of that power. That's where ponykind split up into it's three subspecies. Earth ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns, each with their own minor connection to the core. That malfunction also is the reason why Equestria looks like it does."

"My god…. It all comes together so perfectly. For years I wondered why Equestria and the rest of the galaxy was so different. Wait though, what about that being. Ageless, power beyond belief, and has ruled us for one hundred thousand years. It can't be… no, it can't!"

"Yes it is Jane. The being who worshiped my husband, the being who is trying to keep ponies and humans away from each other, is Princess Celestia….."

The sound of the voice initially shocked Luna, but the instant she recognized it all of her worries went away.

Out from the shadows came face that Luna longed to see. Her sister, Celestia.

"Celestia!" Luna shouted as she ran up to nuzzle her sister. "I'm so glad that you're ok."

"I am too dear sister. It is good to see you." Celestia responded as she broke the embrace.

After the hug ended Celestia's eyes immediately darted over to Sarah. Her sister's expression suddenly changed into one of anger.

Upon noticing this Sarah started to walk over to Celestia with a smile to show that she meant no harm.

"Hi I'm Sarah Palmer of the UNSC. A lot has been going on since you have been down here but rest assured I'm on your si-"

"HUMAN!" Celestia screamed at the top of her lungs before lighting up her horn and sending an ultra powered magical beam straight through Palmer's chest.

The resulting blast left a gaping hole in the humans chest as blood spurted out of it in pools. Palmer's eyes widened in shock as she fell to the ground.

"NOOOO!" Luna exclaimed as she ran over to the body alongside the other element bearers.

Luna got down on her haunches right beside Palmer. Slowly but surely Sarah moved her head to look at Luna. The two locked eyes for a moment before Palmer's body went limp on the floor.

Looking back up at Celestia Luna said. "You… you killed her."

"It's ok Luna, you're safe now from the human."

"But she was trying to help us!"

The sun goddess chuckled.

"Oh silly Luna, she's a human. Humans can't be trusted. That's why they must be eliminated."

"No, that's not true. Jane is the only bad human, the others are good."

"Then those ones were only trying to trick you. Humans are masters at lying to others. Shame our Twilight decided to join them. Do you see what being human has done to her? The very fact that she's a human has changed her."

"Jane is bad because a war made her go insane. Or at least that's what I've heard."

"Then that must have been another lie Luna. You can't trust any of them at all."

With every fiber of her being Luna wanted to trust Celestia's words. After what she just saw though, she didn't know who to trust. Until fluttershy rose up.

"No Princess Celestia." She said in a quiet tone. "I talked with Sarah myself. She is not a liar, she is kind, caring, and thoughtful. If it wasn't for her we would have never escaped. I know a liar when I see one, and Sarah was always being truthful to us."

Luna could see that the timid pegasus legs were shaking, and that she was scared. Fluttershy's words however made Luna's mind up. Palmer was a good person, no matter what Celestia said.

"I'm sorry dear sister, but I agree with Fluttershy. Palmer was a good person, and not all humans are bad." Luna said with the element bearers right behind her, backing her up.

Celestia's facial expression flattened.

"Very well then, you leave me no other choice if you all are going to be human sympathizers."

Celestia's horn lit up with magic and ripped off the elements from each of the bearers necks, and the crown from Luna.

"Those belong to the bearers sister!"

"Correct they do. Sadly for now I can't trust any of you, so I'll have to keep you locked up. It's ok though, I know that you are all smart ponies and that you will eventually see things my way, the right way."

Luna felt herself being lifted off of the ground by Celestia's magic, and with a flash of light, Luna was gone.

"So Celestia is the one behind this all?" Jane asked.

"Yes she is. To make sure the ponies worshiped her, she made up the lie of her being able to control the sun. Eventually they all believed her and crowned her as their ruler."

"I can't believe it. I was so close to her when I was young, and yet she lied to me about everything. I thought of her so highly, like a god. All she was though, was a good for nothing pussy who worshiped Forerunners."

"And now because humans have arrived on this planet, she now knows that humankind has survived the great purge of the Halo's. Soon she'll make an attempt to wipe out off of humanity in order to finish what my husband started. Go quick Jane! Stop her at all cost! Be the hero for humanity that you promised that you would be!"

Jane nodded in response. She made a promise, a promise that she would do everything she could to protect humanity and. As Serin Osman once said, humanity comes first. Now it was the time to truly live up to those words.

"Alright, I'm on it."

"Good. You do not have much time though. You have to be quick. End this now, and save both humanity, and pony kind."

The Librarian started to fade, and so did the world around Jane before she found herself shot out of the object that sent her to that place.

Rising up from the ground, Jane's mind was clear. She had a job to do, and nothing was going to stop her from completing it.

The current cell Luna, and the others had wasn't any better than the one she was stuck in on the human ship. This one didn't even come with basic amenities such as a toilet. The only thing that it had that was better was that it was larger to accommodate six ponies.

The bars of the cell were made of what seemed to be hard light, and no matter what Luna did, she could not break them.

The way Celestia acted though, it just wasn't like her. Yet it felt so familiar for some reason.

Upon that thought the pain came back. Luna instantly wanted to divert her attention to something else to make it go away, this time though she focused on it. It was time that she finally got to the bottom of what this was.

As she tried to think harder and harder, the pain worsened and worsened. It was getting to a point that was almost unbearable, and Luna was starting to sweat. Luna didn't falter though, and choose to ignore the pain to the best of her ability.

She kept on pushing and pushing, delving deep into her memories. Then it finally hit her. Everything, she remembered everything in an instant. Everything she knew about Celestia, humanity, and the Forerunners.

Everfree Castle 1000 years ago….

A much younger Luna couldn't believe her eyes. Lying beneath her throne was some sort of freaky device. When she confronted her sister about it, she learned a horrible truth.

"I'm honestly surprised Luna, you're the first alicorn to ever find that terminal."

"So the entire planet is hollow?"

"Yes, and the core of the planet is, where we get our magic from. Dear sister."

"How did you get that power?"

"I made a deal with a great warrior of long past. About 99 thousand years ago."

"Wow, and he gave you all of this? That's amazing Tia! What did he want in return?"

"He instructed me to keep all of ponykind away from this evil species called humans. Also he told me to never let Equestria grow technologically."

"And you agreed!? Tia just think about how advanced we could have become by now!"

"But look at what magic has gained us Lulu. We don't need any technology. Our kingdom could never be better."

"You don't know that."

"Trust me sister, I've lived for almost one hundred thousand years. I know everything there is to know."

"No, just no. Holding us back will do us no good. Just wait until the public hears about this!"

"No, the public must never know."

"I disagree. I'll tell them myself."

Luna turned around to leave the throne room. The press had to hear about this. It wasn't right to keep Equestria in the dark like this. The public had to know.

"Stop!" Celestia yelled prompting Luna to turn back around. "You will not speak to anypony about this!"

Luna had never seen Celestia in such a state. Normally she was so calm and collected, but now, it was like she was another pony.

"I'm doing this for Equestria's own good Tia. Maybe you'll thank me later."

"I will not permit this!"

"You're not the only one who rules this world. You have no control over me."

"NO!"

Celestia's horn flared to life as she shot a magical beam at luna, sending her to the ground. Due to Luna being an alicorn, the blast didn't kill her, but she was on the ground in pain.

"I'm sorry Luna, but I can't break my promise. The Forerunners were great beings, and I will not disobey their will."

"The ponies will never stand for what you've done to me."

"That won't be too hard to get around. I'll just make up a lie, and tell them that you were trying overthrow me, and bring about eternal night or something. For now, I'll just keep you in the darkest deepest dungeon I can find. Who knows though, maybe I'll let you out one day."

Luna's consciousness started to fade away now, and she layed down on the floor, defeated.

Present day

Luna remembered now. For a thousand years she was kept locked up in that dungeon. It was a meager existence. Celestia eventually let her out, but not before altering with her memories.

That whole Nightmare Moon fiasco a few years prior must have been just a test for Twilight Sparkle.

All of what Luna previously thought was true was now destroyed. For the past few years Luna had been ruling beside a liar who put a lock on her true memories, and made her think that she was once a cruel villain.

It was painful for Luna thinking that she was once a tyrant. It was all a lie though. All of those horrible emotions, and nights in which she cried herself to sleep. All of it, was Celestia's fault.

Her sisters nice demeanor was all a false front that had fooled Equestria for a hundred thousand years.

Luna wasn't even sad at this point. She was angry. Angry for what Celestia did to her, did to Palmer, and did to ponykind itself! Celestia had to be stopped!


	27. Chapter 26

I Have Returned Chapter 26:

As She Falls Further

First Battle of Requiem, 1 year ago….

Massive Forerunner Constructs hung from the ceiling in the sky. The bold majestic parts around the constructs strangely floating around them with some unseen force. It reminded Jane of magic from back in Equestria.

The thought of Equestria though sent a shiver down Jane's spine. Her nightmares. They used to not happen very often, but lately they were becoming far more common. She almost didn't want to sleep in fear that she'd have another one.

The nightmares themselves didn't change all that often. The worst part about them was Jane not knowing whether that would be her old friends actual reactions to what she had become. Of course all of the killing Jane had done was in self defence, or in defence of humanity in general. Sadly due to the lack of murder and war in Equestria, the concept of self defence was non existent.

If it wasn't for Twilight's Spartan augments, she probably would be far too tired most of the time. She'd confront someone about them, but all that that would do is make her look crazy. If anyone found out, she would surely get discharged.

Thoughts like these clouded Jane's mind day after day. They were making her more distant to other lately. If that kept up she would be caught for sure. It was inevitable unless she found some way to shake these thoughts off of her.

They only way Jane thought she could feel better was venting out to someone. Who would listen to her though? Anyone who she talked to would call her crazy, and report her.

For awhile she kept a journal, but that was only a temporary solution, plus there was the risk of someone finding it, especially since INFINITY crew were always monitored by an A.I. . Only a few weeks after starting it, Jane burned the journal while down on a planet.

Most recently the INFINITY was sent to this strange Forerunner world called Requiem to rescue humanity's greatest hero, the Master Chief. Jane alone was sceptical that they would find him, but they did! Sadly though Jane hadn't caught a look at him yet.

Now the ship was heading to the gravity well generator to eliminate it, so the ship could leave the planet. That was great and all, but rumors have been quickly floating around that there was some bad blood going on between the Master Chief, and Captain Del Rio. Nothing has happened yet, but according to some people who were on the bridge, it seemed like there was some tension between the two.

For now though Jane was just waiting for the INFINITY to reach the well so she and the rest of Fire Team Twilight could get deployed. Sadly though, it was just Joseph and Terresia for now as Kansuke was in a hospital on Earth due to injuries. Spartans were super humans, but they were far from invincible.

"Yo Jane, you ok?" A voice said to her, making Jane realize that she had been silently looking out of the window for the past five minutes.

Jane turned around to find that the voice came from Joseph, one of her Fire Team members.

"Fine. Just admiring the view outside."

"Ya, sure makes you think about what it must have been like living way back then. Anyways, I'm here because the captain is letting us off for the next mission."

"Why is that."

"Because as of right now there is only three of us, and we did a pretty good job defending the ship when it crashed. I guess he thought we deserved a break."

"That's good I guess."

"But holy damn is this place pretty. I know I a lot of bad shit has happened since we got here, but the sights alone might just make me miss this place when we're gone."

Jane looked back outside again. To most others Joseph's words would be considered 'rude', and honestly Jane couldn't disagree with them; however Joseph was right to an extent, the beauty of the Forerunners and their designs could be considered as a minor silver lining.

"I guess so." Jane finally said.

"We don't get to see places like this often. Usually it's just the void of slip space, or some barren planet. Hard to imagine that one time all of the worlds that we've seen over the past two years were once lush lands filled with beauty. Now they're just wastelands destroyed by the Covenant. I can't believe we thought it was all over, and now the damn Storm Covenant is here."

He was right. Humanity strived for so much, and lost almost all of it, yet we keep on pushing through. Why couldn't Equestria have ambition like that? In comparison, they almost felt like animals.

Pony, and human society felt like polar opposites. Everything that Jane had learned in the past five years, and everything she had done contradicted what her old life was like. Humanity moved forward, and they weren't afraid to do what needed to be done. Pony kind on the other hand stayed static. Twilight always strived for knowledge, and progression. It something that Equestria never understood about her. In a sense it felt like humanity was perfect for her. Humans valued knowledge, and moving forward. It fit her ideals perfectly.

The worst part was that despite everything humanity does for itself, they are destroyed by things such as war, yet Equestria got everything for nothing. Nothing about it was fair, or made sense. For years Jane tried to suppress those thoughts, but her attempts were faltering recently. It almost made her angry thinking about all of the dead innocent humans who did nothing wrong, while Equestrian citizens couldn't even fathom the concept of war.

Thoughts like this lead Jane back to her nightmares. Pony kinds lack of understanding of what humanity went through, made the way her friends acted towards her all the more realistic. She didn't want to believe that they would act like that to her, but all of the evidence pointed to the conclusion that they would.

"Umm Jane?" Joseph said, knocking Jane out of her train of thought.

"Huh!"

"You went quiet for a moment. Something wrong?"

"Uhh no." Jane lied. "I was… Just thinking about what you said earlier, you know about what life must have been like back then."

"Ya, it's a pretty thought provoking question. As for me I'm too tired to think right now. I'm going to catch some shut eye, you should too."

Jane didn't want to go to bed. She never did these days. No matter how often she decided to stay up and work, going to sleep was something that she would eventually have to do. And as of right now, Jane was pretty damn tired.

"Alright, I'll go to bed as well. Just a nap though, that's all."

With that both Jane and Joseph left to their individual rooms.

Jane was falling. The wind rushing beside her. All that she could do right now was stare up at the clouds in the sky as she moved farther, and farther away from them.

Once again Jane found herself in her old pony body. Because of that she did have wings, but she felt no desire to use them at the moment. All that Jane felt was depressed, no aspiration to do anything except get this all over and done with.

Jane took a deep breath. Fear started to coarse through her body, she knew that something bad was going to come. It always did. She was almost growing used to dealing with these dreams, which was a thought that scared her even more.

Closing her eyes Jane felt the wind stop. Opening them she was laying down in the Royal Throne room in Canterlot castle. She was all alone.

Everything was quiet, Jane could even hear the loud echo of her hoof steps as she stood up. The air started to get cold and brittle as Jane heard a voice from behind her.

"I am very disappointed with you my student."

Jane turned around to see Celestia sitting on the throne despite the fact that Jane was completely alone seconds ago.

"No." Jane said. "Not you too, anypony but you."

"You have shamed your entire Race Jane."

"But I'm Twilight!"

"No, you stopped being Twilight long ago. The moment you took a life you became dead to me!"

"No! I'm still me. I admit that I've changed a lot, and my perspective on Equestria has to, but it's still the place in which I grew up."

"I don't want to hear those words from you. I taught you better than this. You were like a daughter to me, and now you've turned your back on everything Equestria stands for. I am embarrassed to have ever taught you!"

"No, just no." Jane started crying now.

"Oh so now the 'no's' happen. Why couldn't you have said no when they told you to kill!"

"Because there were innocent lives at stake!" Jane cried out, tears fully flowing down her face.

"She's exactly right." Another voice called out.

Jane turning around once again saw Admiral Osman on the other side of the room. This was… odd. No human had ever been in one of her nightmares before.

Suddenly Jane noticed that she was once again in her human body.

"Admiral Osman?" Jane said.

"Yes, and you're right, innocent lives are constantly at stake. What you did was a good thing. You saved people's lives."

The environment around Jane all turned into an empty black void leaving just Jane, Osman, and Celestia there.

"But my old people will never understand that."

"That's right. It is what makes you better than them Jane. You transcended into a human being, and evolved yourself beyond your old race. They are nothing but animals compared to you."

"But they're my species. I have my family and best friends amongst them."

"And they have been treating you very poorly lately." Osman said, prompting a scowl on Celestia's face.

"But these are only dreams."

"True, but what does that change? You know your species the best, you know that these dreams accurately represent their reactions to you if you ever come back."

"But-"

"Don't try to deny it Jane. They don't deserve you Jane. None of pony kind deserves you. You were never meant for them. You were meant to be a human Jane, you always were."

Jane turned back to Celestia who wore that same scowl on her face.

"No Jane." Celestia said. "It's the other way around. You don't deserve pony kind, nor do you deserve anyone's sympathy for your actions."

Turning back now, Jane saw that Osman was holding her hand out to her.

"You are better than them in every way. Just look at how your old mentor reacts to you. She doesn't understand the hardships you've gone through. She never could. Therefore she feels threatened by you."

"She doesn't need to feel threatened by me though!"

"No she doesn't, but she's a pony. They view all killing as bad. Pony kind is ignorant that way. You on the other hand, have cast away that ignorance and have become the best that you can be."

"Equestria is still my home though."

"And why does it have to be your home? Join humanity forever, and let Earth be your home."

"I… I don't know."

"Just think about it this way. Go back to Equestria and be hated, or join the human race and be hailed as a hero. People will accept you here, they won't be ignorant to your sacrifices. Give it some thought Jane, I know you'll make the right decision in the end."

Jane jolted right out of her bed in a sweat. The nightmare was over now, she was awake.

One of the first things Jane noticed upon her awakening was that her face was covered in dry tears.

That was easily her most freaky nightmare yet. Normally all that they contained was ponies hating her. Why did Osman appear to defend her? What about Osman's words though. Joining humanity forever? It felt so weird, but it felt safe.

Jane didn't know what the hell was going on, but if Osman convinced her of one thing it's that Equestria would hate her, no matter how much Twilight tried to deny it.

Present Day

Luna had just finished explaining her true memories to the Element bearers. Their reactions were skeptical, but knowing what Celestia did to Palmer, they believed Luna.

Now their number one priority was escaping and warning the rest of the humans. Celestia was beyond powerful, and while Luna could care less about what happened to Jane, she knew that there was hundreds of innocent humans aboard their spaceship.

Seeing what Celestia did to Palmer, there was no doubt in Luna's mind that Celestia had something else in plan for the rest of the humans. Why else would she wait so long until attacking? Celestia had to be planning something, what she was planning on doing was the real scare for Luna.

"How long do you think that we'll be stuck down here." Rarity said. "I must admit these Forerunners have absolutely no sense in design. Couldn't Celestia throw us in a nicer cell."

"Nice looking or not, a cell is still a cell Rarity." Applejack responded.

"Exactly." Luna interjected. "We are imprisoned, and we should have all of our minds on how we'll escape. Thinking about anything else is a waste of time. The problem is that this cell was built by an advanced race of alien beings. So advanced they make the humans look primitive. Their design for this thing must be practically flawless. There has to be some way though. Something that the Forerunners didn't account for."

"I haven't got the darndest idea." Applejack said. "The only reason we got out of the human cell was because we got broken out of it. Plus it wasn't even a cell in the first place."

All went silent as everypony seemed to fall deep into thought. Luna knew that there had to be away. No race is perfect, even one as advanced as the Forerunners supposedly were.

Then suddenly a loud explosion tore through Luna's ears. When her ears could finally head again Luna looked outside the cell to see someone she wasn't expecting to see.

After running back to the pelican to grab some explosive charges, Jane put each of them on a wall to hopefully create a large enough explosion to punch through it.

Jane noticed six dots on her motion tracker. Those must be from the other side of the wall. She guessed that it must be Luna and the others, but all together that's seven beings. If so, then why was their only six dots.

In the end though she needed to get them out of here. After all the Librarian told Jane that humanity and pony kind were supposed to work together. Jane didn't like that one bit, but it did mean that her old friends were useful to her now.

After arming the charges Jane stepped back quite a bit to the other side of the room she was in.

She took a deep breath, and with that Jane held the trigger down on the detonator. The resulting explosion was large enough to damage her somewhat, but it only took down half of her shields.

Once the smoke went away Jane saw that her plan worked, and there was a gaping hole in the wall. A hole that Jane instantly jumped through.

On the other side Jane saw a cell containing Luna, and her old friends. Yet strangely no Palmer. Each of them had their hooves on their ears, and their eyes shut due to the explosion.

Luna was the first one to recover, and the alicon instantly turned around and saw Jane there.

"What do you want!" Luna shouted.

"I'm here to get your sorry asses out of here before Celestia comes back. Where's Palmer."

"Why are you helping us? You wanted to kill us before."

"Does it matter? Or would you rather stay in here? Now tell me where is Sarah Palmer?"

"She's dead. Celestia killed her. I found out that Celestia worships Forerunners, and wants to destroy all humans."

Dam, this wasn't good. With only one Spartan it would be a lot harder to escape this place.

"I know about Celestia. We'll mourn for Palmer later. For now, we need to get out of here."

Jane walked up to a terminal across the room. It had a large hard light button on it. With no other options Jane pushed it.

The hard light bars covering her old friends cell disappeared. Each of the ponies rushing out of the cell just incase the bars came back.

"First off is anyone injured?" Jane asked, receiving a collective headshake from everyone.

They all looked angry at her. That wasn't surprising to Jane. She had guessed already that there would be hesitant to trust her.

"You didn't answer my question." Luna said. "Why are you helping us?"

"To be honest I'm not one hundred percent sure myself Luna. Then again I don't think any of you are in a position to refuse my help."

"I suppose not."

"Good, because you're going to need me to get out of here. Once Celestia finds out that you've escaped she'll send her army of promethean knights to kill you. Prometheans are deadly foes made from composing human beings. Without me you guys will never stand a chance against them."

"Very well then, lead the way."

Without a second thought Jane started to make her way back. Hopefully they would be outside before too long, but chances were Celestia would send everything she could to stop her and the ponies. The road ahead was going to be difficult, but that's exactly what Spartans were made for.


	28. Chapter 27

I Have Returned: Chapter 27

Locked and Loaded

"How do you even know the truth about Celestia?" Luna asked.

"I could say the same about you." Jane retorted. "As for me, it's a long story. I'll explain when we get to INFINITY."

"Celestia put a block on my memory. I only was just able to break it."

The group had been walking for at least half an hour by this point, yet they were met with no resistance. Jane didn't like this one bit. The lack of anything trying to stop them meant one of two things. Possibility number one was that Celestia hasn't noticed them escaping yet, possibility number two was that her forces were gathering and that they were waiting for the right moment to strike. With all of the experience Jane had, she knew that it was the latter rather than the former.

"I don't get where all of these bad guys are." Rainbow Dash said. "You said that Celestia would send a bunch of bad aliens out to kill us!""

"They will come. They're just waiting for the best opportunity to attack us."

"Ya, and I find that hard to believe. I bet that you just made that up to string us along so you can lock us up again!"

"Think that way if you want Rainbow, but it's your ass on the line if you go off on your own, and I wont come running to help you."

That seemed to shut Rainbow us as the pegasi put an angry frown on her face. Jane had the high card here. The others didn't know what was out there, it was a huge advantage for Jane.

Jane continued. "Once we get back to INFINITY we'll come up with a strategy to take Celestia down. She's planning something against humanity right now."

Luna turned her head towards Jane.

"And how do you know this? You still haven't even told us how you know about Celestia."

"Like I said it's a long story. Lets just say someone told me, and that very same someone told me that Celestia is planning something against humanity. I just wish I knew what it was. INFINITY may be humanity's strongest ship ever, but it'll be utterly destroyed by anything Forerunner in origin. Hell, even the entire UNSC fleet would be powerless if she has some sort of weapon here."

"UNSC?"

"My people's military. We're tough but after being almost wiped out by a war with an alien alliance our defences are crippled. We won the war, but the remnants of the alien alliance have banded together and are out on the hunt for human blood once again. If they regain their strength, humanity will be doomed. That's why I want those elements, which I see have been taken from you by Celestia. They have the chance to wipe them out once and for all. Celestia on the other hand, she has Forerunner tech. Facing off against something like that would be far worse than any other alien force we've ever gone up against."

"I'm sorry for your species, but the Elements of Harmony belong to Equestria. We have no involvement in your war, nor do we know which side we would be on if we knew the whole story. For all we know your kind could have brought this upon yourselves."

A surging rage burst through Jane in an instant as she grabbed Luna by the neck, and held her up to her face so the two could be at eye level.

"Those alien sons of bitches killed billions upon billions of my people! Try to find a way to justify that kind of slaughter! I DARE YOU!"

"They why don't you tell me first your justification for killing dozens of ponies then little miss 'moral high ground'!"

"I was making a sacrifice to save others. Trading the lives of just a few to save potentially billions! I was doing what needed to be done. A concept that you ponies are not familiar with. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few!"

"There must be another way, there is always another way."

"Always with the other ways. I have some hard news to break to you Luna, the universe is a cruel violent place. It sucks, but that's the way things are. Far worse stuff than what I've done has happened out there. Change needs to happen for people to move forward, and one who cannot sacrifice anything, can never change anything."

"That doesn't make what you did right."

"No it doesn't, but tell me this though. If pony kind would to be completely eradicated, but you could save them by killing a few hundred humans, would you do it?"

Jane dropped Luna who held her head down in defeat. The alicorn didn't say anything, but her silence was a good enough answer for Jane.

The group came across a large elevator. Jane pressed what seemed to be an up arrow on a control panel, and the elevator started to ascend.

"Our concern right now should be Celestia." Jane said. "You are free to pick as many bones with me as you want when we're done, but for now our minds should be focused on what Celestia is planning, and how we combat that."

As if on cue the elevator came by a large window letting them see what else was inside the planet. Jane at first wasn't expecting much, but what she saw scared the life out of her.

"That… That can't be…." Jane said.

"What? What is that thing." Luna asked.

Jane had only seen photo's of one of these before, but she knew very well what it looked like, and what power it held.

"That's a composer…."

Crimson gasped awake on a medical bed, the recents events that transpired still fresh in his head.

"Ah good to see that you're awake." Roland said who was on a computer screen next to him.

Crimson noticed immediately that he was out of his armour and that he had a wound from Jane's energy sword bandaged, and stitched up on his chest.

"Where is Jane?"

"Sadly she saw the others escaping and chased after them."

"Damnit I failed then."

"Not exactly. You did delay Jane long enough. If you weren't there she would have caught them before they left."

Crimson sighed to himself. He did what he could, in fact he was lucky that Jane didn't just use her magic and got the fight over and done within a few seconds. Still though, his best wasn't enough. God knows what Jane has already done to them.

"What about what's going on on the surface. How are ponies reacting to humanity?"

"Most are scared and don't know what to think. Others already hate us. We did set up shop in a few hospitals and cured a few diseases, so some of them like us."

"I wonder what they'll think of us a year from now."

"I haven't got any clue. This is all so new to them, who knows how they'll be able to cope being uplifted from medieval times into the space age. It's hard to tell how long their society will take to fully interrogate into a modern one."

"I just hope that when all of this is over that they'll be ok."

"I think they will. There's good humans out there, and as long as they see that not every human is a Jane Arimondo, they'll be fine. All that we have to do is show them the best that humanity can be."

"Heh, you always know the right thing to say Roland." Crimson chuckled.

"I have a tendency to do that."

"But Jane is still out there." Crimson said, switching back to the previous topic. "She's down there and she has to be stopped.

Crimson sat up in his bed, and moved to get up, but the pain from his wound immediately stopped him.

"Woah there." Roland said. "You're still injured. The wounds weren't too serious, but it's best that you take it easy for now."

Despite Roland's words Crimson managed to push himself off of the bed, and stand up all while clutching his wound.

"You know I can't do that."

"You're in no state to go up against anyone, let alone Jane. Even if you were at full strength you would still be no match for her."

"I have to try though, I won't be able to live with myself if I don't."

"I'm starting to see why they choose you to be a Spartan IV. You don't seem to ever give up."

"Prep my armour and a Pelican. Those ponies need me. Just tell me where they went."

"To the inside of the planet through the gravity well."

"Well then that's where I'm going. Watch out Jane, because you're about to face my resolve."

"What is a composer?" Luna asked.

"You remember how I told you that Celestia has an army of Prometheans made from humans."

"Yes."

"That's the thing that composes humans into them."

"My god."

The was one of the worst things that could happen. With INFINITY just floating above Canterlot, Celestia would have a clear shot at composing thousands of human lives in an instant.

"We have to get back to the INFINITY now and get it out of orbit! Or else all of our lives are at stake!"

The elevator reached its top and what they saw wasn't surprising at all. There was an army of Prometheans right in front of them.

"Get behind me!" Jane shouted as she threw down a bubble shield just as the shooting started.

Jane quickly exited the bubble leaving the others safely in it as she held her SAW in one hand firing it at enemies on the right, and firing magical bolts from her other hand at the enemies on the left.

She took out quite a lot of them, but her shields were drained in a matter of seconds forcing her to step back into the bubble.

"Godammit there is a lot of them. More than I have ever faced." Jane said.

Once the shield gauge reached full on Jane's hud she leaped out of the bubble shield again with her SAW

Once promethean knight teleported behind her, a grave mistake as Jane pulled out her energy sword and slashed the knight in half.

Jane unclipped a grenade from her belt and tossed it above a group of knights. The promethean watcher grabbed onto the grenade and prepared to throw it back at the Spartan. Sadly for them Jane shot a magical bolt at the watcher causing it to disintegrate, and drop the grenade right in the middle of the knights, killing all of them.

Jane picked off the last few with her saw just as the bubble shield dissipated.

"Any injuries?" Jane asked.

"None." Luna responded.

"Then follow me."

The group started to rush down hallway after hallway in an effort to escape the underground structure, but the way in which they entered was blocked up thus they had to find another way. The problem was though that they had a constant threat looming over them, very little time to get back to INFINITY, and no map of the area as the cherry on top.

As she ran Jane activated her com unit in hopes of contacting INFINITY.

"Captain Jane Arimondo to INFINITY! I repeat, Captain Jane Arimondo to INFINITY!" She said, but there was no answer. Chances are all signals were being blocked. On the off chance that INFINITY was listening, and just wasn't able to get a response through she continued. "UNSC INFINITY this is Jane Arimondo. We have an emergency. A Forerunner threat under the planet is preparing to use a composer against the INFINITY."

"Are you getting anything Jane?"

"Nothing at all."

"Well keep trying!"

"We are en route to a pelican, but we might need assistance." Jane paused for a moment as she knew what she had to say next. "If we're taking too long get out of orbit and back to Earth as fast as possible so you can warn them. The enemy has a composer. All of humanity is in danger!"

Jane left her com unit open for a few more moments, but to no avail. All that Jane could do was get the hell out of there, and pray to whatever gods were listening that the INFINITY got her message.

The group made a right turn at an intersection and came face to face with a ramp leading outside.

After running out of the underground structure the seven stopped for a moment to catch their breath. Jane didn't really need it, but she knew that the others did.

Looking to the sky Jane couldn't see any recognizable landmarks. It was going to be hard to get back to one of the two pelicans.

"Any idea of where we go from here Jane?" Luna asked.

"None at all. It's just nothing but forest. I did land in a clearing but it's going to be hard to find it. Can you fly up and see if you can spot it?"

"Yes I can." Luna said before flying up.

The alicorn stayed up there for a few moments looking around in all directions before finally coming down to let Jane know the news.

"What did you see?"

"There's quite a few clearings out there so I have no idea which one has the spaceship or whatever you called it in it. The closest one is just west of us, maybe a few kilometers away."

"Then I guess that that should be our goal then. I just hope one of the two pelicans is there."

This would be much easier if she had Roland with her. If he was here, he would have been able to keep track of where they were and put a waypoint to the pelican.

"Lets get a move on." Jane said as she started to head west.

The group walked in silence. The tension between the others and Jane was as thick as it could be. They hated her living guts, and while Jane didn't care all that much about their opinion on her, it didn't mean that one of them could turn on her at any moment. Jane ignored that for now though as she pressed onwards. There was no time to waste.

About a little over half an hour later they finally came to the clearing. There was a pelican there, but it wasn't what they were expecting. The pelican was a smoldering wreck. Celestia must have sent prometheans to destroy it.

And then out of the blue knights started to teleport in.

Before Jane could react one fired its weapon hitting Rarity in the stomach.

"NOOOOOO!" Rainbow Dash screamed as she rushed to Rarity's side.

Jane automatically threw another bubble shield down over them.

As soon as her shields were fully charged Jane lept out of the shield and into the fray. There must have been twice as many prometheans as their encounter in the Forerunner structure.

Pulling out her SAW once again Jane started to fire short controlled bursts at each knight. Jane even noticed a few new types of prometheans amongst the crowd. The new ones were bipedal, and looked very human like. Jane didn't care though, they were still enemies. It was all the same to her.

A few knights started to teleport around in an attempt to confuse her as the new prometheans pushed forward on her, forcing Jane to back up a bit. She took out a few, but her shields were drained, thus Jane re entered the bubble shield to let them recharge.

There were so many of them. It felt like it would be impossible to take them all on, but Jane had to.

Upon reaching full shields again Jane stepped out of the bubble shield with her weapon raised. When she tried to fire it though, all she got was a few clicks signaling that the clip was out. Jane reached for her belt to grab a new magazine, but to no avail. She was completely out of ammo.

Dropping her weapon Jane tried firing magical bolts from her hands, but there was just too many knights.

Suddenly though Jane head the sound of an engine in the distance. I began to get louder and louder until a pelican flew by her spraying bullets at the prometheans. One by one they all fell until there were no more in sight just as the bubble shield disappeared.

The pelican landed and it's cargo bay door opened revealing none other than Crimson himself pointing a battle rifle at Jane.

"Jane Arimondo if you do not come quietly and let me arrest you I will kill you right here and now. Do I make myself clear!" Crimson declared.

"Can this wait for later. Rarity was shot by one of the prometheans. She needs medical help."

"Since when did you start caring about them?"

"That doesn't matter right now! Just get some bio foam!"

"Please just do it!" Luna shouted. "We're working together now, just please help us!"

Crimson nodded and went back into the pelican to search for some medical supplies.

Jane on the other hand picked Rarity up and took her into the pelican. She placed her down on the floor, and closed the hatch once the other ponies entered.

When Crimson came back with some bio foam Jane said. "Good, now take off and get us back to the ship! INFINITY is about to be attacked."

"Why the sudden change of heart?" He asked. "I could have sworn that you wanted to kill them just a few hours ago."

"I'll explain later, just do it."

"Fine then."

Crimson went back into the cockpit and the pelican started to take off.

Everyone else strapped in except for Jane who was tending to Rarity's wounds. She inserted the nozzle of the biofoam canister into the unicorns wound and injected the foam into it. Quickly the foam hardened sealing off the wound.

"That'll hold for awhile Rarity." Jane said. "But not forever. You'll live, but you need proper medical attention. Just stay calm for now and everything will be okay."

As the pelican ascended Jane stayed by Rarity's side. Things were fine for now, but god only knew what would happen once they got back to INFINITY.

"Jane you better see this." Crimson said from the cockpit.

Fearing the worst Jane left Rarity and entered the cockpit. There she could see the INFINITY over Canterlot city, and it was under attack….


	29. Chapter 28

I Have Returned: Chapter 28

Rebirth

1 Year ago….

Jane felt like an emotional wreck for the past few days. After that one nightmare she just felt depressed. The nightmares that followed barely contained any ponies. They mostly consisted of Osman trying to convince her to stay with humanity forever.

The worst part about it though was that the idea felt so safe. Jane was accepted here. As a human she would be looked up to as a hero for her actions, in Equestria she would be considered a villain. That was for certain.

She had spent five years with the human race. Five whole years. She had been a human longer than she was friends with the other element bearers back in ponyville. Did that make her connection to the human race stronger to her connection with her old friends?

Everything in her life was confusing at this moment. It was so hard to force it all inside of her so nobody would know. It all just felt bottled up, like it was going to burst at any moment.

Every waking hour was now filled with thoughts like this. She couldn't even force them out of her when Earth was being attacked. They controlled her life at this point, ruled her very essence.

Right now on the other hand Jane was doing her very best to focus on her current work, to little avail sadly. At the very least she was making progress.

Her job was to sort through the new arrivals on the INFINITY. The ship was getting an influx of new crew members, around one hundred to be more exact.

She was scrolling through the list checking off name after name of who arrived on her com pad in one of the INFINITY's main hangers. Normally an A.I. would do this but when INFINITY crashed onto requiem the ship lost it's A.I.. The ship was going to get a new one very soon according to command.

Jane scrolled down to the next name, and her eyes widened as she read it in it's typical last name first, middle name last format in which it was displayed. Dougherty, Brennan, Michael. At first Jane rubbed her eyes thinking her mind was playing tricks on her, but the name stayed. It was him!

Looking up away from her com pad Jane surveyed her surroundings looking for him. It took her a few moments, but eventually she spotted him on the other side of the hanger.

"Brennan!" She shouted as she ran up to him.

His ears perked up at the sound of her voice, and his head turned to face her. The instant they locked eyes, he smiled.

"Jane is that you?" He asked.

"You bet!"

The moment Jane got close enough to Brennan, he pulled her in for a hug. Reluctantly she returned it. It felt strange hugging another human being. With her current life you never knew when someone was going to die, it made Jane cautious about making friends and getting close to others.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm part of Spartan command. I help lead all Spartan fireteams, including my own. What about you?"

"I just became a Spartan IV. I am currently now the leader of Fireteam Crimson! How awesome is that! Wow I would have never thought that one day you would outrank me."

"What have you been doing these past years?"

"I've been stationed around a few planets nothing much."

"What did you do that made the UNSC make you a Spartan?"

"About half a year ago I was stationed aboard a ship. We got attacked by some Storm Covie ship. We had to crash land on a freezing planet. It was usually about minus fifty in the day, and even worse at night. I banded together a few groups of survivors from the escape pods. When the Covies came down to the planet to finish us off we hijacked a Phantom drop ship and took their main ship by force. The UNSC was so impressed with me that they made the offer. What about you Jane?"

Of course Jane couldn't mention a word about her being with ONI. That didn't mean that she hadn't done anything noteworthy in her time as a marine.

"I was in the battle of the Ark. I got through it unscathed which drew UNSC attention towards myself."

Her lie was partway true. Her surviving the battle of the Ark was what made ONI and Osman watch her. Essentially she only told Brennan half the story.

"Wow. I can't even begin to imagine what that must have been like. Oh well though, I'm just happy to lead Fire Team Crimson."

"Crimson…. That's a good name, it suits you."

He stood there for a moment thinking before he responded.

"Heh, you're right. It does work with me. You know most people rarely get my name right the first time, maybe I should just Crimson as a nickname."

"That would be kind of neat, you should do that!"

"Very well then. You can call me Crimson for now on."

"Perfect then Crimson." Jane said with extra emphasis on Crimson, and a warm smile. "As for right now I'm just making sure all of the new people aboard the ship are accounted for. I guess that means I can check you and your fire team off the list."

Jane checked all of their names off and scrolled down a bit. This time another big name popped up.

"My god…" Jane said. "The Master Chief is here!"

"Holey shit! I guess that means you have to meet him to check his name off!"

Jane for the first time in weeks felt excited. She was going to meet the Master Chief. Humanity's savior, the one and only!

"What are we waiting for then, lets go!"

There he stood in all his glory, Sierra 117 the Master Chief. She had heard legends of him, how he destroyed Halo, stopped the flood, and many other great accomplishments he had done. He was staring out the window down onto Earth. Captain Lasky had just finished talking to him, and told him that he would leave the deck so the Chief could have it all by himself. She knew that the Captain would be angry with her if she stayed here, but she had to take her chance to talk to him, just once.

"She said that to me once, about being a machine." He said to himself, not knowing that she was just walking up behind him.

"You are the Master Chief, right?" She said.

He turned around in surprise to see a female Spartan with long flowing purple hair and a few streaks of pink in it, staring at him like he was some sort of god.

"Yes." He responded.

"My name is Jane Arimondo Sir, Spartan IV class." She said while giving a salute. "I know Lasky wanted you to be left alone, but do you mind if I stay here for a while?" She asked to the Spartan towering over her.

"No, it's fine." His voice spoke with a deep emotionless monotone, it was almost scary.

"Thank you sir." She put her hand up against the window, and joined the Chief as the both looked upon the great Earth in all of its magnificent glory. It made her wonder, what would Equestria look like from space? It certainly was a very different world than Earth.

"Something is bothering you." He said.

"I think that goes for both of us. What happened to you?"

"I lost a friend today, a good friend."

"I guess you could say I've lost plenty of friends. From back home that is."

"How so?" He asked.

"I haven't seen them in years, but chances are they would hate what I have become."

"You are a soldier, you protect people, and there is no greater honor than that."

His words spoke the truth, though did not he know where her friends actually were.

"I suppose, but they hate killing with a deep passion, they would probably view me as some sort of monster."

The chief reflected on these words. "Killing is never right, but humanity must always come first, even if means killing."

"I guess at this point any solution if preferable to extinction."

The sad thing is though; she knew her friends from Equestria would never understand. Humanity is filled with this instinct to survive, the instinct to protect their causes even if it means the sacrifices of millions, and as she's seen; sometimes billions. Ponies had no such survival instinct; they would rather cower in fear of oppression then kill for freedom. They would call humans monsters if they saw what they had done, and it's because of that ignorance that they could never understand what they've had to go through, what she has had to go through.

Human kind has had to fight for its right to live since the dawn of it's existence, while the ponies bask in their everlasting peace, ignorant of the sacrifices humanity has made. Some would call their ignorance bliss, but it angered Jane to her core knowing that they sit all high and mighty, while good people died trying to save their species.

Sure they've had to fight before, but only for a few mere hours at most, and they wouldn't even suffer any casualties. They will never understand, what true war is like, and they will understand what she has become.

"I am no monster, I am a human soldier, and I couldn't be prouder. Thank you sir, I will leave you alone now." And with that she quickly walked out of the room to once again leave the Spartan II alone in his thoughts.

She left the deck only to see Crimson there waiting for her.

"So, did you do it, did you talk to him?" He asked.

"I did, he opened my eyes to something."

"Like what?"

"That I should be proud to be Jane Arimondo, and no one else." Jane said as she walked off and checked the Master Chief off of her list.

Darkness surrounded Jane. Fear started to rush back into her as she knew what was coming. Once again she was having a nightmare.

Then the words came. At first they were quite. They were almost a whisper.

"Monster.… Monster…."

Yes, the words she was expecting. The words that had been haunting her for the past few years. Slowly but surely they got louder and louder.

"Monster!... Monster!..."

Jane could start to feel her heart race at that moment. Here is was, happening again. Every single night of her life now had a dream like this.

"MONSTER!... MONSTER!..."

"Shutup!" Jane shouted as she fell to her knees and plugged her ears. "Just please shut up!"

The voices stopped for a moment letting Jane breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe, just maybe this night was going to go easy on her.

That little hope she had though was squashed the moment she realized that she was in the Golden Oaks library with all of her old friends.

"No, no, this can't be happening!" Jane said.

"Be quite monster!" They all said in unison. Their words making Jane's heart skip a beat, and her skin go cold.

"Please just don't do this to me. I can't take much more!" Jane pleaded as she fell down on the floor crying.

"We don't listen to killers!" Applejack said.

"Ya, why should we give any pity to you." Rainbow Dash added.

"You obviously don't give any pity to the ones who you kill." Rarity continued.

"No, I only kill because I have to. To protect innocent lives. Why can't any of you see that!"

"Murder is murder. You have blood on your hands! Only a monster has blood on their hands." They all said again.

"No! I'm not a monster! I would never hurt anyone for no good reason!"

"There is no good reason for killing."

All of her old friends saying those words all at the exact same time scared her more than any Covie could ever dream of.

"You don't understand! You haven't been in the situations I have been in!"

"No." Rarity said. "You are a disgrace to everything that ponykind stands for. You have soiled your name, your reputation, and your own kind. Only a monster can do something like that!"

Jane tried to say something back to Rarity, but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

"I am the Element of Loyalty, and I will never stay loyal to the likes of you Jane Arimondo."

Hearing her old friends use her new name like that hurt beyond all measure. The way in which they said it made her feel like she betrayed them all. The thing was though was that she knew that she never betrayed them, and had no intentions of ever doing so.

Now Fluttershy spoke.

"I am the Element of Kindness, and you don't have a shred of good in you. I wouldn't even let you go near my animals because you would probably kill them."

Once again the words stung. This time though it Jane felt a spark of anger. She didn't need to take this. She wasn't a monster, and she knew that. Nothing that her old friends could say would change that. On the other hand the words they were saying still hurt.

Suddenly though Jane heard Osman's voice call out to her.

"Humanity always comes first. You are better than them."

Jane paused for a moment as she heard the words. She looked back up at her friends who were all glaring at her. Jane's breathing started to become more erratic as the anger inside her grew.

"Humanity always comes first. You are better than them." She heard the voice again. This time though to Jane's shock, it wasn't in Osman's voice, it was in her voice!

Jane didn't want to believe it at first, but she knew that those words didn't come out of her mouth.

Behind her Jane heard footsteps, and angled her head to see who it was. To no surprise it was Serin Osman herself.

"Your are better than them." Osman said.

Slowly though Osman's face started to change until it fully morphed into Jane's face.

"We are better than them." Jane's counterpart said before fading away.

Strangely though Jane wasn't confused, she was full on angry now. The spark of anger that had started this was now a full on flame. Her old friends were calling her a monster. That was not true, Jane was a hero and she knew it. She saved countless lives, no monster would ever do that!

The five ponies all started to chant together at this point in time.

"Monster…. Monster…. Monster…. Monster…. Monster…. Monster…. Monster…. Monster…."

Jane gritted her teeth as she heard those words. How dare they call her a monster. She was a good human being. The words stuck with her, human being. Now she knew why, humans accepted her, they always would. Why would she ever need to go back to a place where she wasn't accepted.

"I am not a monster!" Jane shouted, now standing up. Yet the chanting didn't stop "I said I am not a monster!"

Once again the chanting continued. It pissed her off that they would think of her like this. They were her friends, and friends were supposed to stand by other friends no matter what. All of them, they were all just ignorant little ponies who could never understand her sacrifices! There was no doubt in Jane's mind right now, she was pissed off to her very core.

Jane felt something laying on top of her feet. It was a MA5D Assault Rifle. It was waiting for her there, beckoning her to use it.

The Master Chief's words rang through her head again.

"You are a soldier, you protect people, and there is no greater honor than that."

He was right. She was a soldier, she was a human. Jane was where she belonged, alongside her brothers in arms ready to fight to their very last breath for humanity! Yes humanity, and no others.

Jane picked up the Assault Rifle from the ground and held it up high. Her old friends were still chanting the word monster over and over again. Each time Jane heard the word she grew even more angry, until finally she snapped.

"SHUT UP!" Jane screamed at the top of her lungs as she sprayed bullets at each of her old friends, the bullets tearing through them. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

The five ponies were long since dead at this point, but Jane stilled fired bullet after bullet into their fresh corpses.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL OF YOU!"

And with that Jane finally woke up. This time though there was no tears, no sadness, just anger, pure anger.

Jane was where she belonged now. For years she thought that her destiny was being a princess, but now she knew that she was born to be a Spartan, born to be Jane Arimondo. Yes, Jane Arimondo, that was her name, and she would carry that name to the grave!

Reaching under her bed Jane grabbed out her old picture of her and her friends and without a second thought she ripped it up and threw it in the trash. She didn't need it anymore, and Jane certainly didn't need them anymore.

This was her new life. Her life as a human, her true life. Never in Jane's life did she feel more at him than at this singular moment. She was a human, and she was proud of it. Proud of everything that humanity stood for.

Jane at this moment decided that she was never going to go back, ponykind didn't deserve her. She was better than them in every way. And in that moment she took a deep breath as Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes, and Jane Arimondo opened them.


	30. Chapter 29

I Have Returned: Chapter 29

To Save Equestria One Last Time

"NO!" Jane shouted. "She's attacking the ship now!"

"Who?" Asked Crimson.

"Celestia. That one alicorn who was supposed to be kidnapped. It was all a lie. In reality she's a Forerunner worshiping bitch, and she has a composer."

"A composer!?"

"Ya."

Strangely though Jane didn't see the composer at all. All that there was was some Promethean airships, and some Forerunner cannons protruding from from Canterlot Mountain, all of them firing at the INFINITY. Jane also assumed that there would be some of Celestia's Prometheans inside as well.

"Why isn't she using the Composer then?"

"I have no idea."

This perplexed Jane. Why the hell wouldn't Celestia just get it over and done with, and kill everyone in an instant? Celestia wasn't nearly that stupid, so she must have something planned.

As the Pelican got closer to the INFINITY Jane pointed to one of the hangers and said. "There, land in that one Crimson."

"It's probably full of Prometheans though."

"All of them probably are. Just do it!" Jane ordered.

The Pelican slowed down as it entered the hanger. Groups of Prometheans littered the entire room forcing Crimson to gun them down with the pelican's two nose mounted machine guns before landing.

Heading to the back of the Pelican where Rarity was still laying on the floor gritting her teeth as the unicorn suffered through the pain of her wound.

Jane opened up the cargo bay door of the pelican revealing two ODST's waiting outside.

"Good to see you sir!" The ODST on the left said. "We're in a dire situation Captain. The Promethean force is easily triple the size of the one that attacked the other day."

"That's not good at all." Jane said before picking up Rarity. "Get this pony to the medical wing immediately. Her safety is of top priority. I'll stay up here to defend the ship."

"Yes sir." The ODST said back as he took Rarity into his arms, the other ODST helping him.

Jane turned back around to the other five ponies and Crimson

"You all better go with them. I will make sure this ship is safe. Now go."

Each pony pilled out of the pelican followed by Crimson, and ran up behind the ODST's.

This hanger was safe for now, but it wouldn't be much longer till more arrived. Jane just hoped that they would all get to the medical wing safely, then again they had the protection of two ODST's and a Spartan. They would be just fine.

"Roland!" Jane yelled out fully knowing that the A.I. was listening.

"Yes Captain." His disembodied voice said.

"Get this ship out of orbit fast! There is a Forerunner worshiping entity named Celestia inside the planet with a composer!"

"Captain are you sure!"

"Just do it Roland we don't have much time!"

"On it!"

The Entire ship shook as Jane felt the barely fixed engines struggle to make the INFINITY gain altitude.

"Is this all she has!?"

"I'm afraid so. Sorry, I've been mostly diverting repairs to the slip space drives."

"Do you think we can do anything with those yet?"

"Probably one minor jump to get us out of the planet's magnetic field. I can only do it once we break free of the atmosphere though."

"Fine then start prepping then."

"Yes Captain!"

Jane ran over to a nearby door with an intercom system next to it. She punched in her access codes, and selected the option to have her message broadcast throughout the entire ship. Once that was done she pressed the red button on the control panel to activate the mic.

"Captain Jane Arimondo to all crew!" Her voice boomed. "Prepare for an emergency slipspace jump. I repeat, prepare for an emergency slipspace jump!"

The ship rumbled again as the strain on the engines got harder and harder. At this point the INFINITY was giving it it's all to ascend.

Jane walked over to the edge of the hanger and looked down upon Canterlot Castle. At the very top of the tower Jane could just barely make out a figure on top of it. She had to squint her eyes a little to see it, but the being was definitely Celestia. Even at the distance they were at, Jane still felt like they had just locked eyes, and that Celestia had a mischievous grin plastered across her face. The thought of it made Jane scowl.

As if it confirmed Jane's suspensions two Promethean Knight teleported behind Jane, both wielding scatter shots. Before they were able to fire though Jane turned around and grabbed both of their weapons, and angled them towards each other just as they pulled the triggers. The hard light fired from the scatter shots impacted the knights disintegrating them immediately.

Turning back around Jane muttered down at Castle. "Yeah, well fuck you to."

The INFINITY started to stabilize, and its rate of ascension started to increase until Canterlot castle was just a speck in the distance.

UNSC INFINITY Bridge

By the time Jane Reached the bridge of the INFINITY, the ship was just exiting the atmosphere. Multiple groups of Promethean Knights, Crawlers, Watchers, and the new Prometheans ( which Jane decided to call Promethean Soldiers for now ) will still littered across the ship.

"Roland, you better get us out of here fast!" Jane said as she walked in.

"I'm doing my best Captain, by the slip space drive is giving me all sorts of trouble. The Huragok were only able to be it partially working after all." Roland said, his avatar appearing on the holographic projection table.

"Speed up then, we might now have much time!"

"I'm an A.I.. I can perform hundreds of actions within a mere fraction of a second. Believe me when I'm saying that I'm going as fast as I can."

Beads of sweat came down Jane's brow. She had no idea how much time she had left before Celestia would fire the composer, hell at this point in time I might already be too late.

"Got it!" Roland shouted as a hole in real space was torn open in front of them. With little time to space the INFINITY entered the hole, exiting out the other side in a fraction of a second. The trip was a quick one, but that's all they needed to free themselves from the planet's magnetic field.

Jane breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down on a nearby chair, and wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

"Roland, status report." Said Jane.

"We are far away enough from the planet to be away from its magnetic field." Roland responded as he brought up a live view of Equestria on a nearby monitor. The planet looked like nothing more than a marble at this distance. Jane tried to bring up her magic, but failed. This only further confirmed that they were far away enough from Equestria.

"What about the Prometheans."

"They all disintegrated once we entered slipspace. We're safe for now."

Jane closed her eyes for a moment as she was still in the process of catching her breath. Since the beginning of this whole ordeal Jane had had no sleep whatsoever. Even with her Spartan augmentations, she was getting exhausted at this point.

"Goddammit, I can't wait till this is all over. I need some sleep."

"We're not out of the woods yet Jane. Take a look at what my probes in low orbit are showing."

The monitor's image of Equestria changed to an live video feed of the Crystal empire. Jane's eyes widened as she saw a hole open below the Forerunner Dreadnought ship. Slowly the ship started to float down into the hole, and thus into the inner planet.

"Why the hell would Celestia do th- Oh shit!"

Jane's heart skipped a beat as she just realized what was happening. Earlier Celestia was in INFINITY's systems with Pearl. If she temporarily integrated with Pearl then she would have access to all of the UNSC's data, including the coordinates to…. Oh god no.

"What is it Jane?" Roland asked.

"INFINITY was never Celestia's target! She's planning on attacking Earth! She was in INFINITY's systems, and thus has its location. Now she's going to attach the composer to the Forerunner Dreadnought ship and head to Earth!"

This was the worst possible scenario Jane could think of. No wonder Celestia only sent Prometheans to attack the INFINITY. She was trying to distract Jane and the others so she could prepare to attack Earth, and Jane fell for it. Jane had underestimated Celestia.

"Then we have to go down there and kill her before she leaves then."

"There's no point in that. Celestia has herself linked up with the planet's core. She practically immortal right now."

"What? How?"

"She made a deal with the Didact to watch over Equestria and make sure pony kind, and humanity would never make contact with each other. In return the Didact left her instructions on how to link herself to the planet's core, and give her unimaginable power. Because of that, she's ageless, has insane magic, and is nearly impossible to kill. It went perfectly for her, except for the fact that the core malfunctioned and gave all of the other ponies a fraction of that power too. Even so, that doesn't change the fact that it worked on her."

"So this power is the magic that we've been seeing right? And the core is malfunctioning?"

"Yes, why?"

"What if we reset the core?"

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"If the Forerunners knew it was possible for the core's to malfunction, then they must have put in a way to reset it to its original state. Think of it as reseting a product to its factory default. If we do that, then all of the magic in Equestria will go away, and we can kill Celestia."

Rolands idea had merit, that was for sure. It could work, but Equestria would be changed forever. There would be no way in which pony kind could get their magic back. Thier entire society was built around having magic as a constant. Also if magic was destroyed, Jane would lose the elements.

"That's only a theory Roland. We have no way to know if there is a way to reset the planet's core. If we go down there and find out that you were wrong, then that's a whole lot of time wasted. That could be the difference in humanity surviving or not!"

"Our recent jump into slipspace was all the ship had. It's going to take awhile to fix the rest of it. We're going to be here a good while longer Jane. It's worth a shot."

"Ya, but we'll lose the elements. Plus pony kind would lose their magic. Thier whole society is based upon it. Who knows what will happen to them."

"You're actually concerned about what will happen to them after all that you've done?"

"Don't take it that way. My main concern is humanity and the Elements of Harmony. Still though, that doesn't change the fact that your idea is going to suck for them too."

"I guess so. Really though, what other options do we have. Even if the fleet manages to stop the Dreadnought ship, lives are still going to be lost. This way we can stop her before she even leaves for Earth. Just think of the lives you can save if I'm right."

"So what's the plan then. I know you've probably conducted in in your head already."

"Simple. Fly in through that hole in the Crystal empire in a flying vehicle of your choice. Step two get inside the core with me. From there plug me into any port you can find, and I'll see what I can do."

"That's not a very complex plan."

"It's the best I can do with the limited data I have."

The two stared at each other in silence for a moment. Jane still didn't know if Roland's plan was worth the risk. There were pros and cons to to what he was saying no matter how Jane looked at it.

Then to Jane's surprise a third voice cut through the quiet air.

"Perhaps I should go in Roland's place."

Another avatar appeared on the holographic projection table. This time it was Pearl. She seemed to be for the most part fine, but her avatar flickered red every few seconds reminding Jane of the impending doom the A.I. was about to face.

"How did you get past my firewalls?" Roland asked.

"It wasn't easy, but I managed to break through. My rampant personalities are temporarily under control, but I have no idea how long I can keep this up." Pearl responded. "Jane, the being who is preparing to compose Earth was the same being who caused my rampancy, correct?"

"Yes." Jane said.

"Then I should go in Roland's place down into the core with you, if you choose to try his plan. I don't have much time left, and I would like to get revenge on the one who did this to me before I die."

"Very well then, I'll take you with me."

Roland looked surprised at this.

"Jane, she's rampant!" Roland said. "It's too dangerous for you to take her."

"Yes, but in the chance that I fail, die, or take too long down there, you can get INFINITY out of here and back to Earth."

"But Jane!"

"No buts Roland. I made my decision. This is the only way I'm going through with your plan."

Roland sighed.

"Yes Captain."

"Good. Start preparing a Broadsword for me Roland. Pearl, prepare a data chip for yourself. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to let our guests know about what's going on.

UNSC INFINITY Medical Wing

Jane strode into the room where Rarity was. It had seemed that the other ponies including Crimson had gathered there as well, to no surprise.

Not a single happy face looked at her. To all of them Jane was considered to be the one who caused most of this mess. Jane wasn't expecting them to be happy to see her, but that changed nothing. She was here to give them an update on what was going on and that's it.

"We have a way to stop Celestia." Jane said. "It's only a theory, but it requires a large sacrifice."

"I'm guessing that means you're going to be murdering more ponies!" Rainbow Dash accused.

"That's not what it is."

"I have a hard time believing you after all the shit we've gone through. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if you just came down and asked for the elements nicely instead of killing everypony!"

"What would be the point in that! With all of the killing that I've done in the past six years you would have thought of me as a monster regardless! I saved innocent lives by killing in the time in which I've been human. You ponies on the other hand would never have understood that with your 'all killing is wrong' attitude towards everything! Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong, I'd like to see you try!"

This time Applejack spoke up.

"Yes we view all killing as wrong! But for Celestia sake Twilight, you were our friend. We would have at the very least given you a chance to explain yourself, even if it went against our morals! The only thing that has made you a monster, is what you've done to Equestria in the last few days!"

For the second time that day, Jane's heart skipped a beat. Everything that she had built her beliefs on was just shattered the moment she knew that there was a chance that her old friends could have accepted her. It was only a maybe, but it was enough to make Jane fall to her knees.

Crimson ran up to Jane and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Don't you see Jane!" He said with a look that told Jane that he finally understood what made her go through all the pain she experienced. "Your friends would have been by your side no matter what. They trusted you, and your actions in Equestria has betrayed that trust. So please Jane, just come to your senses!"

And just like that Jane felt a tear roll down her cheek. There were so many deaths she caused in the past few days that could have been avoided. They were all dead because of her stubbornness, and her belief that her friends would hate her no matter what. That was innocent, avoidable blood that was all on her hands. Her desire to keep humanity safe was noble, and Jane still stood by it, but her actions in Equestria with no doubt made her a monster.

By now Jane was full on crying while Crimson moved his arms to embrace Jane in a hug.

"Let it all out Jane." He said softly. "Let it all out."

And Jane did. All of the pain that she bottled up over the years poured out of her in her tears. She couldn't hold any of it in any longer.

"All I wanted to do was protect humanity." She cried.

"I know Jane, but there is better ways of doing that. We're soldiers Jane, killing is what we do, but we shouldn't if we can find another way."

"I'm so sorry."

Jane knew that an apology wouldn't even be close to enough, but that's all she had to give at this very moment.

Luna Walked up behind Crimson and looked down to Jane.

"Twilight, are you back?" Luna asked with hope in her eyes.

As much as Jane wanted to tell Luna yes, she knew she couldn't. Even if Jane was done with hurting Equestria, she knew that in her heart, there wasn't a shard of Twilight Sparkle left in it.

"No, Twilight is gone. My name is Jane Arimondo, and that's probably who I'm going to be for the rest of my life. I am a human being, and a Spartan. It's what I was born to be. That doesn't mean that I'm going to regret my past any longer though, or kill anymore innocent ponies."

It was true. Jane had done too much as a human to turn back now. It was who she was. Luna on the other hand seemed rather disappointed at Jane's answer as she just looked down at the floor.

"Very well then." Luna said as she turned around to leave the room.

Jane broke her hug with Crimson and ran up to Luna just before she left and placed a hand on her shoulder causing the Princess to look back at her.

"One thing's for certain though Luna. I am going to kick Celestia's ass into oblivion, for humanity and pony kind. Trust me when I say that I will have my redemption!"


	31. Chapter 30

I Have Returned: Chapter 30

One Final Letter

"So what is this sacrifice you speak of Jane? What will it take to defeat Celestia, and will it harm any ponies?" Luna asked.

Jane had just finished putting on her armour save for her helmet. She was in a hanger standing next to the Broad Sword she asked Roland to prepare for her. Soon she would be off to the core, but first Jane wanted to know is she had Luna's consent with the plan. It was the very least she could do after everything that happened.

"You know that Celestia is connected to the planet's core right?"

"Yes I do."

"Roland theorizes that if we reset the core, all magic will be lost. This will in turn make Celestia mortal so we can kill her."

"You want to destroy all of Equestria's magic!"

"That's what I'm going to do. It's going to happen regardless of what you say, but if I had your permission to do it, it would make this a lot easier on my conscience."

Jane knelt down a bit to meet Luna on eye level. She gave the Lunar Princess her most sincere look she could muster up.

The two pairs of eyes met. Luna's face looked conflicted. The two stared at eachother for a moment before Luna's face looked down upon the floor.

"Jane?" Luna asked.

"Yes?"

"I think Equestria has relied on magic for long enough. It's time for us to move forward, and this will be the push pony kind needs. Like you said, one who cannot sacrifice anything, can never change anything."

Jane gave Luna a smile. Now she could do her work without any moral chains to make her hesitate.

"Thank you Luna. I have a job for you though."

"And what would that be?"

"There are places that require magic to live, like Cloudsdale for example. Once Equestria loses magic pegasi will no longer be able to fly, or walk on clouds. I'm sending you down along with Crimson, and other groups of people to evacuate places like this. Can I trust you to do this for me?"

Luna just smiled.

"You can count on me."

Jane put on her helmet and walked over to the pedestal where Pearl was waiting for her. The A.I. looked normal at first glance, but she flashed red a few times reminding Jane of her impending doom.

Performing this action was probably going to kill Pearl. Whatever strength she had left would be put into this one final effort.

"You ready Pearl?"

"As ready as I'll ever be Captain."

Jane ejected Pearl's brand new data chip and inserted it into her helmet to the A.I. could connect with her neural implants. It was a strange feeling everytime Jane did that, especially considering that when the A.I. would talk it would sound like the voice was inside her head. The creepy part was that the voice was inside her head.

Once Pearl's avatar disappeared from the pedestal, Roland's avatar took her place.

"You sure you want to do this with her Jane? It would be safer if I went down there with you."

"No, you have so stay with the ship incase I fail."

"I don't just want to sit here and do nothing."

"I know, which is why I'm ordering you to send a warning to Earth. Tell them what's coming their way, and to prepare all of their defences. They're going to need everything they can to protect themselves if I don't succeed."

Roland sighed. "Yes Captain, I'll get right on it. Just promise me that you'll do your best to come back."

"I will Roland, I will."

Jane walked over to the Broadsword prepared for her and took a deep breath as she opened the hatch and climbed in. There was a good chance that she was going to die today. The scariest part though was that that death may come from the hands of one who she used to look up to. Celestia was like a mother to her throughout most of her life, and now Celestia and herself were going to try and kill each other. Fate was indeed cruel today.

Crimson walked up beside the broadsword and looked up at Jane.

"Be careful out there Jane. Even through all of the bad, you have no idea how much I'll miss you if you die down there."

"Don't worry Crimson, I'll do my best to come back in one piece. You've been a great friend to me despite all of the bad things I've done. Can you do something for me though?"

"What is that?"

"If I succeed, but don't make it back, tell em to make it count."

And with that Jane closed the hatch which sealed with a hiss. No more words were needed to be spoken. They both understood their duty, it was time to bring it to and end.

Crimson locked locked eyes with Jane as the platform in which the Broadsword was on lowered. They both knew very well that this could be the last time they saw each other.

The Broadsword was lowered into a long corridor with a blast door at the end of it. Two metal camps grabbed onto the Broadsword as the airtight hatchway leading back into the hanger above her closed.

The corridor was then depressurised before the blast door opened revealing the cold emptiness of space. Jane activated the Broadswords engine, the thrusters spitting out fire like a dragon. After a few seconds the clamps holding onto the fighter released, and the Broadsword flew out of the ship and into space.

In the distance Jane could see Equestria in all of it's glory. The place in which she grew up in. It looked so different to any other world she had been on, like it was some sort of cartoon. Equestria's days of looking like that were at an end though, soon it too would be a regular planet.

Crimson climbed into the pelican's cockpit alongside princess Luna. He couldn't focus on the wrongs that were committed by Jane during his time in Equestria, all that he needed to do right now was help with the evacuation effort and hope that Jane would be successful at shutting down the core.

He glanced over to Luna, and from the expression on her face, he diagnosed that she was feeling the same way he was.

"You ready to have this all over and done with?" Crimson asked.

"More than you know. My life has been turned upside down in the past few days. I honestly don't even know what's true anymore."

Crimson started up the pelican, and flew it out of the hanger. In the distance he could see Jane's Broadsword speeding towards Equestria, the metallic hull of her ship reflecting the light of the nearby sun.

Luna seemed to be staring at the Broadsword too as she said.

"Please Jane, save us one last time."

Awhile later….

Jane's Broadsword was just about to hit the atmosphere high above the Crystal Empire, or what was left of it. Due to Jane heading to Canterlot immediately after her attack, she didn't get to have a proper assessment of the damages she caused.

The Broadsword started to shudder as the cold vacuum of space was replaced by Equestria's atmosphere.

Equestria's moon was right in the middle of the sky. On the planet it was well past midnight for sure. Sunrise would be in a few hours. It made Jane wonder if it was going to be a sunrise of a new world, a new beginning for Equestria.

After flying through a layer of clouds, the Crystal Empire started to come in view, or what was left of it. Charred housed littered the streets, the aftermath of all of the fires that raged through the city. There didn't seem to be a single living soul down there amongst the recent ruins of the city. The sight made Jane shudder. She should have taken more precautions to minimize casualties.

In the middle of the city where the dreadnought ship used to be was just a massive hole leading into the inner planet. That would be Jane's entrance. Hopefully it would give her a direct shot at the core. If it didn't then this would have been all for nothing.

Jane angled the Broadsword towards the hole, and put the fighters thrusters on maximum.

Once she was over the hole Jane could see the surface of the inner planet which also had a massive hole in it leading further into the planet.

"Captain?" Pearl asked, her voice distorted a little bit. "I have noticed that you have no weapons equipped. Can you elaborate?"

"The way I see it is that my magic is about to go away. Might as well use it while I have it. You know, one last time."

"I see. A strange choice indeed, but I'm going to die anyways so it's all the same to me."

"Don't think like that Pearl. If we pull this off, you're going to die a hero. That's something that some humans can only dream of. Going out in a blaze of glory. You'll be remembered throughout history for your actions today."

"I suppose so. Thank you Captain."

"Dispense with the formalities Pearl. Right now were just two people trying to save humanity. We're probably going to die today, so we should die as equals, as comrades."

"As friends?"

Jane let out as chuckle remembering all of her studies about friendship, and how many memories that one word brought up.

"Yes Pearl, as friends."

"You got it Jane!"

The Broadsword was now going through the second hole into the deep planet. From here on there was no more layers, instead Jane saw that the rest of the planet was hollow with nothing but the core in the middle. Her destination.

"Jane! Incoming targets! I count about six Forerunner Phaetons!"

"Well, we were bound to get some resistance!"

On the radar in Jane's heads up display six dots appeared behind her. In response Jane cut the thrusters on her Broadsword slowing it down, forcing the Phaetons in front of her. Before the Phaetons had time to adjust their speed Jane fired missiles at each one of them. Each missile landed save for one due to the Phaeton making its way behind the Broadsword fast enough.

Jane had no time to react as the Phaeton fired hardlight rounds at her Broadsword. The shields on the fighter didn't last for long as the hard light bullets were soon impacting the Broadswords hull.

It wasn't long before the damage became excessive and Jane started losing control of the fighter.

Reaching deep inside her magic Jane conjured up a spell to start compressing the Phaeton until she eventually destroyed it.

It was a small victory, but it was short lived as Jane now had to cope with her Broadsword spinning out of control.

Jane was starting to near the spherical core of the planet now. She could see an opening at the top of it with the Forerunner Dreadnought slowly lowering into it. Jane wanted to fly over to the opening, but the controls to the Broadsword were now entirely non functional.

"Pearl! Status report!"

"All flight control systems are non responsive. Our current trajectory will take us to a landing pad on the edge of the core. Sensors detect that there is a small opening therein which we can enter.

At least they were going somewhere. That was better than nothing. The problem was that is was just a little too convenient. This was probably going to lead Jane into a trap made by Celestia. Chances are she did this so the two could have a little talk before she killed Jane.

The small landing pad was in view now as the Broadsword hurdled towards it. Jane held her breath, clenched her teeth, and braced for impact as the fighter slammed right down onto the platform.

Her body due to the force of her going at an incredible velocity then suddenly stopping sent her flying out of the cockpit, smashing through the hatch and out onto the landing pad. Her armours shields were instantly depleted as it tried to absorb the impact.

By the time Jane was able to catch her breath her whole body ached. Thankfully she was a Spartan, and her body could take damage far beyond what a normal human being could. In fact her bones were borderline indestructible.

"Pearl you still there?"

"Of course I'm still here! Do you honestly have that low of an opinion of me! Ugggghhh I'm sorry the rampancy is taking over. It's getting harder to think straight!" Pearl cried out.

"It's ok, just hang in there Pearl, we're almost done."

"What if I don't make it in time?"

"Don't worry, I prepared for that."

Jane managed to get up and walk over to the wreckage that used to be her Broadsword. Opening up a compartment on the bottom of it Jane pulled out her last resort, a havoc grade payload.

"Is that what I think it is?" Pearl asked.

"Yes. It's plan B."

"I had no knowledge of this."

"I know. I didn't tell anyone that I put this in. Rolands theory of resetting the core is just a hypothesis. If that doesn't work I'm going to go to the Forerunner Dreadnought ship to detonate this nuke. It's a last resort if you die, or Roland was wrong."

"Why didn't you tell anyone!"

"They wouldn't let me go if I told them. I'm prepared to sacrifice myself. I owe it to all of the pony's I've killed, and to humanity for being so kind to me. Going out in a blaze of glory, that's the Spartan way. I'm prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice today, that's why I told Brennan to tell them to make it count."

"But you'll die!"

Jane chuckled at Pearl for the second time that day.

"Don't be silly Pearl, I'm not going to die. I'm just going to be missing in action."

Taking no more arguments from Pearl Jane placed the bomb on her back and marched into the opening to the core.

Jane found herself on a long walkway suspended over a large pit. Looking above herself Jane could see an overwhelming amount of Forerunner machines operating. She could only imagine what they were doing.

Everything around her was lit up in a pink hue, much like Celestia's prometheans of which there were strangely none of at the moment.

On the other side of the walkway there was a large wall with a small door in it. Looking over in both directions it seemed as though the wall went on forever.

Eventually Jane made her way to the door which opened as she got just a few meters away from it. Jane walked through the door and came to a small room with pathways leading of in both directions.

A data port was in the middle of the room in which Jane walked up to briskly and inserted Pearl.

"So Pearl, I have two questions. First off where do we go from here, and secondly will Roland's plan work?

"Yes. It seems that his hypothesis was correct; however we need to go to the center of the core to reset it. It seems that there is a control panel there. It is separated from the rest of the system though, so I cannot access it."

"Which way to the core, give me a nav point."

A nav point appeared on Jane's heads up display. It was about a kilometer away from where she was standing.

"Place me back into your helmet. I can give you direction from the- You filthy swine! I ottah kill you! AHHH! I'm sorry!"

Jane took Pearl's data chip and placed it back into her helmet.

"It's ok, just focus on getting me to the core for now."

"Take the left path.

Turning left Jane started walking down the hallway Pearl guided her into. Strangely though, she came across a dead end. Jane was about to turn back until a portal opened in front of her very eyes.

"I took the liberty of setting up a chain of portals to take you to the center." Said Pearl.

"Good, thank you." Jane responded as she lept through the Portal.

Jane came out on the other end into a room full of prometheans waiting for her. Not wanting to deal with them Jane simply used the same spell she used on the Phaeton on all of the Prometheans.

Each of them exploded in a barrage of pink light leaving Jane alone in the room. She checked her nav point, she was still five hundred meters away from the core.

"Pearl what the hell was that!?"

"I'm sorry Celestia must have interfered with my chain of portals. You're going to have to hoof it from here on out."

Jane bolted for the nearest hallway in the direction of her nav point, grabbing a scattershot from the floor on her way just in case. She had no time to waste.

Suddenly though a voice came through Jane's com unit. A voice she knew far too well.

"I see you made quick work on my prometheans." Said Celestia. "I guess it was a mistake to make you an alicorn."

"And I see that you're too afraid to show your face. What's wrong, are you afraid of a measly human?"

"That's not a proper way to speak to your mentor Twilight. Also I'm busy preparing for the cleansing of the planet Earth."

"First off fuck you, second off my name is Jane."

"Yes I know, and your actions in Equestria these past few days have been a disgrace to your heritage."

"Yes, but not this one. I'm going to save humanity and Equestria."

"Humanity and their destructive tendencies do not deserve to be saved."

"That doesn't matter. Nothing gives you the right to slaughter billions."

"Don't give me that. Humanity led the flood to the Forerunners, they deserve what ever punishment the Forerunners deem worthy."

"Yeah, but you're not a Forerunner."

"Yes, but I looked around on your ship's records while I was aboard it."

"You killed Lasky you sick fuck!"

"Yes, and I came across the records of the Didact's attack on Earth. Sadly he failed, but in his honour I'll finish what he started."

"Not before I finish you." Jane said before shutting off her com unit. After all talking to Celestia was nothing more than a waste of time."

Jane came out into a large opening. Above her Jane could see the Forerunner Dreadnought Ship coming through the hole at the top of the core. Then Jane started to see the composer being raised up into it. In front of Jane was a gravity lift.

The nav point on Jane's hud pointed to a small sphere in the middle of the opening.

"Quick!" Pearl yelled. "We don't have much time left. The grav lift will take you to the control panel!"

Without a second though Jane lept into the gravity lift and found herself soaring through the air. She must have been a few hundred meters off of the ground as the grav lift was just before a large drop off that seemed to lead to the bottom of the core.

Jane flew closer and closer to the control panel, and once she was a few dozen meters away from it a fifty meter long hard light platform extended from it which Jane landed on.

Quickly Jane ran up to the sphere and inserted Pearl into it. Within just a second though Jane heard the sound of someone teleporting behind her. Turning around Jane saw a very angry looking Celestia who was charging up her horn.

"This is the end for you Twilight Sparkle! Or should I say Jane Arimondo!" Celestia screamed.

Jane braced for incoming doom, but soon a massive wave of light flew over Jane and Celestia.

The first thing Jane noticed that nothing looked like a cartoon anymore and Celestia was just standing there looking dumbfounded as to why her horn wasn't working. That meant that Pearl succeeded!

"What's going on!" Demanded Celestia. "Where is my magic!"

"It's gone. All magic in Equestria is gone now. We reset the core of the planet. You have no more power now."

"No, No! NO!" Celestia screamed as she fell to her knees.

"You've cheated death long enough Celestia. How does it feel to be mortal?"

"You human! I taught you better than this."

"You've taught me a lot of things, but yet you have so much more to learn."

"You sicken me."

"But I've learned quite a bit during my time as a human. In fact I've just learned a valuable lesson about friendship. I learned that no matter what a friend will always do their best to understand you, and that a true friend will always give you a chance to explain your actions even if those actions go against their morals. If only I had learned that lesson sooner than maybe I wouldn't have assumed that all my friends would think of me as a monster just because of my actions as a human. I didn't learn that lesson in time though, and that made me cause so much pain and suffering upon my return to Equestria."

"I could care less about the words of a human!"

"Well you better remember them, because that was my final letter." Jane said as she pulled out her scattershot she picked up earlier and fired it directly at Celestia's face, disintegrating her instantly.

What was left was an eerie silence as Jane realized that it was all over now.

"Good job Pearl." Jane said. "Lets go home now."

Strangely though, there was no response.

"Pearl, you there?"

Nothing. Jane soon realized that resetting the core must have taken all of what was left of the little A.I.. Pearl just like Jane said, died a hero.

Jane came back out onto the landing pad where her crashed Broadsword was. Now though there was a pelican with Crimson standing next to it smiling at her.

"You did it Jane." He said. "It's all over now. You saved Equestria and humanity."

Jane exhausted now climbed into the back of the pelican, buckled up, and took her helmet off.

"I know. Celestia's dead now. You can tell Infinity to move back into low orbit."

"Already have." Crimson said as he went into the cockpit and started up the pelican. "Luna is up on the surface directing ponies evacuated from magic required places to refugee camps we set up. I'll take us there now. In the mean time get some rest."

The pelican lifted off of the landing pad and soared through the air and up to the surface. As the ship exited the opening to the planet Jane could see the sun on the horizon casting a glow over the mountains. Equestria now looked like a normal planet just like Earth. Soon ponies would be waking up to the new world and all of its glory.

As Jane looked down upon the landscapes she had a smile on her face. It truly was a world born anew.


	32. Epilogue

I Have Returned: Epilogue

And The World Shall Carry On

Two weeks after the second battle of Requiem…..

Jane strode into the bridge of the UNSC INFINITY. Captain Lasky had requested her presence there, and just like he always was, he was right on time.

"Captain, I heard that you wanted me."

"Yes Jane, INFINITY is getting a new A.I.."

Just then the avatar of the A.I. appeared on the holographic projection desk. She took the form of a young girl in a dress that looked like it came out of the early 1900's.

"Hello, my name is Pearl." The A.I. said.

Lasky continued. "Pearl is an experimental smart A.I., one who isn't made from a human brain. Thus, in her early life she'll be only developing her personality slowly. She'll also be more vulnerable compared to other A.I.'s."

"Then why have her if she is more vulnerable captain?"

"The UNSC thinks that once she matures, she'll be stronger than any A.I. humanity has. The only cost will be a short period in which we'll have to make sure she comes into no enemy contact. So we'll be fine as long as nobody hacks into her."

"I don't see where I fit in all of this?"

"With Pearl in, Roland needs a new home. Due to the success of the Master Chief with his former A.I. Cortana, the UNSC wants to test other Spartans with A.I.'s. Basically, we're giving you Roland."

Jane was astonished to say the least.

"Captain, are you sure."

"I'm positive. You're one of the best Spartan IV's we have. I already have a medical staff prepared at a space station in orbit around Earth who are prepared to give you upgrades to your neural implants."

"I…. I don't know what to say Captain Lasky. Thank you for trusting me with this."

"It's no problem Jane. All that I ask is for you to make me proud, and to take good care of Roland."

Ponyville Present Day.

Jane looked up at Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville. She had not stepped foot in that place for over six years now. Luna, and her old friends were standing right next to her staring at it, save for Crimson who was on his com unit talking to someone.

"Do you want to go in it?" Luna asked?

"I'm fine. I wanted to look at it one more time, for closure. I'm probably never going to come back after this. When I left six years ago I never got a chance to say goodbye because I assumed that I was coming back within a few hours. Boy was I wrong."

Crimson tapped Jane on her shoulder to get her attention.

"I got word from a scouting team investigating the core." Crimson said. "They found the elements. They still have magic in them. Glassman theorizes that the concentration of magic in them has lead to them being able to self produce their own magic."

"Really, that's fantastic."

"And now they're asking for permission to retrieve them."

Jane looked over to Luna wondering what she was going to say about this.

"It's alright Jane. We don't need them anymore. Take them."

"Are you serious Luna? After everything I've done?!"

"Your kind needs them far more than Equestria ever will now. With no magic, there is nothing for us to use the elements on. Just promise me that humankind will help rebuild Equestria."

"We will Luna. We owe you that at the very least."

"But let me make one thing very clear Jane." Luna said as a scowl came across her face while she walked up to Jane. "I will never, ever forgive you for what you've done to Equestria these past few days. So many innocent lives were lost because of you."

Then, the scowl on Luna's face faded, and she held a hoof out towards Jane.

"But you have my thanks, for standing by till the end."

Jane shook Luna's hoof, and managed to give a small smile back to the Lunar Princess.

"I'll never forgive myself either, but I'm glad I came to my senses. I have all of you to thank for that."

Now Jane moved onto her old friends. The expressions on their faces ranged from neutral, to confused.

Taking a deep breath, Jane started to talk.

"I've betrayed the friendship you've all given me during my time in ponyville. I know none of you want to forgive me, and I don't blame you. All that I want right now though is not forgiveness though. I just want a chance to say goodbye one last time. I never gave you all a goodbye six years ago, and I probably won't get another chance ever. After this I'm probably never going to come back to Equestria unless I'm on duty. Even if I do come back, chances are slim that you'll want to see me. I desperately hope that one day time will have healed enough wounds for us to at least talk, but that isn't likely. So to all of you, goodbye."

All of them just looked at Jane not knowing what to say, until Fluttershy said.

"Goodbye, and good luck for the future."

Once by one each of her old friends made a small goodbye to her. Just knowing that they still cared enough to say goodbye warmed Jane's heart.

Suddenly Jane heard the roar of a pelican behind her. Turning around Jane saw that it was just landing.

An ODST came out of it and ran up to Jane.

"Captain, Roland says that the slip space drive is online, and that we can return to Earth. He sent me to come and get you and the leader of Fireteam Crimson."

Jane looked back at Luna who smiled at her and said. "Well then, goodbye Jane Arimondo. I'm wish you luck in your future endeavours.

"Same here. Goodbye Luna." Jane said as her and Crimson climbed into the pelican.

Jane strapped herself in as the pelican took off. Outside the window she could see ponyville in all of its glory one last time.

Ponyville graveyard

Luna looked down on the grave of Princess Twilight Sparkle. It was evening now and Jane and long since went back to her ship the UNSC INFINITY.

This time she could finally say a real goodbye to Twilight. For years she never knew what happened to her purple friend. She had countless sleepless nights wondering about her, where she was, what she was doing.

The being who came back though wasn't Twilight, but that didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that she finally had her answers, and that she finally had her chance to say goodbye.

Then there was Sarah Palmer. Luna heard from the element bearers about what she was like before she died. She was a social outcast, not well liked. The element bearers though opened her up to the joys of friendship and made her start to come out of her shell. It was a shame that after that Palmer was murdered at the hoofs of Celestia.

"Goodbye Twilight Sparkle." Luna said to the grave.

Yes, Twilight Sparkle died six years ago. She was never to be seen again. Her death though marked the birth of someone new. Now in Twilights place there was a new hero soaring through the galaxy, and her name was Jane Arimondo.

UNSC INFINITY Bride.

Jane looked down upon the new Equestria once again. This time though, Crimson was alongside her.

So many lives had been lost in the past few days, from pony soldiers, to Spartan Palmer. Jane didn't know Palmer very well, and most crew members didn't even like her, despite that though, Sarah Palmer didn't deserve to die. Even though Celestia was the one who killed her, Jane still felt that she was partly responsible for her untimely demise.

That was just the beginning though as Jane soon got word that her own Fireteam were found dead in the Everfree forest. Another three deaths added to the casualty list. These Spartans on the other hand were people who she fought alongside, people who she knew personally. No matter what, nothing could ever come close to replacing them. They were…. her friends, her brothers in arms.

"So what's going to happen to you now Jane." Crimson asked.

"I don't know Brennan, but I have ties to ONI, they can get me out of this."

"So after everything you've done, you plan to get away with it scot free?"

"No, it's not like that. If I get convicted of my crimes I'm going to be in a cell for the rest of my life. What good can I do from there. If ONI protects me though, I'll be free. With that freedom, I can live everyday trying to make the galaxy a better place so that maybe one day I'll be able to forgive myself for the atrocities I've committed."

Jane looked towards Crimson who gave her a smile.

"In that case, I'll do whatever I can to help you along the way!"

Just then Roland's voice came through on the speakers.

"Everything and everyone has been accounted for including the Elements of Harmony. Just give me the order and we'll be out of here."

"Glad to hear it Roland, let's get back to Earth now. It's time to go home."

With that a tear in normal space appeared right in front of the INFINITY. Jane could feel the engines come to life as he ship accelerated into the portal to once again soar through the vastness of slipspace into an uncertain, but hopeful future….

The End.


End file.
